Bank of America Downgrades Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Neutral

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was downgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $490.00 price target on the electric vehicle producer’s stock, up from their prior price target of $400.00. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 19.21% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. KGI Securities raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. New Street Research raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Tesla from $411.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Tesla from $156.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.69.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $411.05 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 112.62, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $365.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $276.00. Tesla has a 1-year low of $138.80 and a 1-year high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total value of $35,254,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,903,716. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 514,886 shares of company stock worth $169,393,831. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 1,248.9% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $52,124,000 after acquiring an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 59.2% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $30,593,000 after purchasing an additional 43,685 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.3% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $80,944,000 after buying an additional 9,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Tesla by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $37,801,000 after buying an additional 1,741 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.