Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on TSLA. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Roth Mkm raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.31.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $404.60 on Friday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $403.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $297.99. Tesla has a 52 week low of $138.80 and a 52 week high of $488.54. The company has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 198.33, a PEG ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 2.30.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.54%. Research analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,400,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,761,200. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 553,386 shares of company stock valued at $196,305,796. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 184,459 shares during the period. Destination Wealth Management increased its stake in Tesla by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,296,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Tesla by 59.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $30,593,000 after buying an additional 43,685 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 3.3% in the 3rd 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. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.2% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $37,801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,741 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.