Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price shot up 1% on Thursday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $280.00 to $480.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $456.36 and last traded at $444.65. 41,792,681 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 94,912,141 shares. The stock had previously closed at $440.13.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $156.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Tesla from $287.00 to $411.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Tesla in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $272.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total transaction of $975,191.26. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,868,508. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 522,886 shares of company stock worth $171,393,831 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,356,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $15,469,792,000 after buying an additional 1,022,589 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,473,008,000 after acquiring an additional 828,308 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,377,970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,763 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Tesla by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,545,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $4,328,884,000 after purchasing an additional 301,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 11.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,201,212 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,192,203,000 after buying an additional 1,294,093 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $314.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $252.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. Tesla’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.