Tesla’s (TSLA) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Canaccord Genuity Group

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $404.00 price target on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 69.91% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on TSLA. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Roth Mkm upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Cowen upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated a “top pick” rating and issued a $430.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $323.00.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA traded down $12.20 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $237.78. The company had a trading volume of 90,190,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 88,759,594. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $351.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $320.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $764.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.88, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. Tesla has a 52-week low of $138.80 and a 52-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 for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 over the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Members Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $359,000. Tableaux LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $681,000. Keystone Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $246,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at about $379,613,000. Finally, PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at about $10,823,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.