Tesla’s (TSLA) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $550.00 price target on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

TSLA has been the subject of several other reports. Cowen raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America cut their target price on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.93.

Tesla Stock Performance

Tesla stock opened at $248.71 on Thursday. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $335.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $320.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock has a market cap of $799.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.92, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total value of $718,046.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. This trade represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 in the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after buying an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $24,566,217,000 after buying an additional 1,655,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during 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.