Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 3.3% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 3.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after HSBC raised their price target on the stock from $120.00 to $127.00. The company traded as high as $462.29 and last traded at $459.46. Approximately 97,252,348 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 5% from the average daily volume of 102,816,719 shares. The stock had previously closed at $444.72.

TSLA has been the topic of several other research reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $375.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $440.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Bank of America upped their target price on Tesla from $305.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Daiwa Capital Markets reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Sunday, July 27th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $341.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total value of $42,034,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 697,031 shares in the company, valued at $244,162,988.99. The trade was a 14.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.89, for a total value of $1,171,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 5,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,735,080.36. The trade was a 40.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 208,606 shares of company stock worth $77,360,462 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 87,929 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $35,509,000 after purchasing an additional 9,293 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Tesla by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,317 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,147,000 after buying an additional 931 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 52.2% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 10,368 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $4,187,000 after buying an additional 3,558 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Tesla by 3.7% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,605 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,193,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, Apella Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 4,399 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $361.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $319.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 252.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 2.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. Tesla’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current 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.