Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 1.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price was up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $265.00 to $287.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $273.37 and last traded at $272.92. Approximately 40,965,688 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 94,426,016 shares. The stock had previously closed at $269.19.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Tesla from $153.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. William Blair initiated coverage on Tesla in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Tesla from $236.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. KGI Securities raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $219.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,258,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,258,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at $14,967,479.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Tesla by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,602,120 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $41,064,917,000 after purchasing an additional 3,795,748 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 35,611.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 11,054,391 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,892,160,000 after buying an additional 11,023,436 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Tesla by 12.9% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 9,849,425 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,731,430,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125,329 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 21,816.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 5,902,416 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,167,970,000 after purchasing an additional 5,875,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 2.6% in the second quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 5,314,395 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,051,613,000 after buying an additional 135,966 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $871.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.77, a PEG ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $230.53 and a 200-day moving average of $207.92.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

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.