Truist Financial Cuts Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target to $280.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its target price trimmed by Truist Financial from $373.00 to $280.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

TSLA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Oppenheimer restated a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $404.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Glj Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Tesla from $440.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $312.65.

Tesla Trading Down 10.4 %

TSLA opened at $239.43 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla has a 52 week low of $138.80 and a 52 week high of $488.54. The stock has a market cap of $770.13 billion, a PE ratio of 117.37, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The business has a 50 day moving average of $305.98 and a 200-day moving average of $323.56.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Tesla by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 193.3% in the 4th quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors 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.