Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Raised to “Buy” at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $220.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on TSLA. UBS Group cut their price objective on Tesla from $225.00 to $165.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Tesla from $320.00 to $310.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Tesla in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. They set a sell rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Edward Jones lowered Tesla from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $186.70.

Tesla Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $168.29 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $535.97 billion, a PE ratio of 42.93, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 2.39. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $299.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 14.37% and a return on equity of 13.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.07 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Tesla will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total transaction of $18,247,369.38. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,920,950. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total transaction of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,920,950. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total value of $2,143,785.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,376,229.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534. 25.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $7,844,757,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 25,990.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,202,806 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,541,273,000 after buying an additional 6,179,032 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,806,372 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $57,102,287,000 after buying an additional 3,866,361 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 34.0% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,032,207 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,260,039,000 after buying an additional 2,293,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 7.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,546,823,000 after buying an additional 2,177,397 shares in the last quarter. 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.