Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 4.6% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was up 4.6% during trading on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $270.00 to $325.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $418.96 and last traded at $414.56. Approximately 28,882,209 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 75,177,305 shares. The stock had previously closed at $396.36.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on TSLA. KGI Securities raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $156.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $2,222,802. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 621,886 shares of company stock worth $213,451,751 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 168.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Clean Yield Group raised its position in shares of Tesla by 60.0% in the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Tesla by 263.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 113.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.30. The business’s 50 day moving average is $382.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $284.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Tesla Company Profile

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.