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

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) traded up 1.4% during trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $400.00 to $430.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $422.64 and last traded at $409.05. 34,813,041 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 53% from the average session volume of 74,755,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $403.31.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Roth Capital raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. KGI Securities raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.60.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,258,000. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value of $15,138,915.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $391,164,540.60. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 621,886 shares of company stock worth $213,451,751. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Acropolis Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Connable Office Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 12,872 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,368,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 4.4% in the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 908 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Holistic Financial Partners lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.0% in the third quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 4,055 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc now owns 3,058 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $379.81 and its 200-day moving average is $283.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Tesla’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect 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.