Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $320.00 price target on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Tesla from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 29th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Tesla from $267.00 to $234.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Tesla from $255.00 to $224.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, China Renaissance began coverage on Tesla in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Tesla has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $207.04.

Tesla Price Performance

NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $179.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $572.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 2.41. Tesla has a 52-week low of $152.37 and a 52-week high of $299.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $188.49 and a 200 day moving average of $222.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.03). Tesla had a return on equity of 16.62% and a net margin of 15.50%. The firm had revenue of $25.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total transaction of $121,674.57. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,188,215.81. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total transaction of $121,674.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 63,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,188,215.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.44, for a total transaction of $16,439,605.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,631,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 198,598 shares of company stock valued at $36,952,434. 20.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,806,372 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $57,102,287,000 after buying an additional 3,866,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 104,115,390 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $27,254,286,000 after buying an additional 4,431,570 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $7,546,823,000 after purchasing an additional 2,177,397 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,040,734 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $7,266,572,000 after purchasing an additional 269,182 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

About Tesla

Tesla, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, leases, and sells electric vehicles, and energy generation and storage systems in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Automotive, and Energy Generation and Storage. The Automotive segment offers electric vehicles, as well as sells automotive regulatory credits; and non-warranty after-sales vehicle, used vehicles, body shop and parts, supercharging, retail merchandise, and vehicle insurance services.