Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “underweight” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential downside of 65.30% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Tesla from $249.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. KGI Securities raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “sell” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $314.15.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $389.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.60, a PEG ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $401.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $296.63. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value of $15,138,915.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,164,540.60. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total value of $35,339,911.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,727,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 617,886 shares of company stock valued at $212,451,751 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Tesla in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Cim LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at about $292,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the second quarter valued at approximately $269,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Tesla by 41.0% in the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 23,470 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $4,644,000 after buying an additional 6,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashburton Jersey Ltd acquired a new position in Tesla during the 2nd quarter valued at about $63,000. 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.