Canaccord Genuity Group Reiterates Buy Rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $404.00 target price on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 79.31% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on TSLA. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $319.25.

Tesla Price Performance

Tesla stock opened at $225.31 on Monday. Tesla has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $724.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $344.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $320.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Equities analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $24,566,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.