Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 3.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares rose 3.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on the stock from $255.00 to $365.00. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $407.82 and last traded at $403.24. Approximately 36,144,581 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 94,441,039 shares. The stock had previously closed at $389.79.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. William Blair started coverage on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $249.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Tesla from $287.00 to $411.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.48.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,164,540.60. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total value of $975,191.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $40,775,792.65. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 522,886 shares of company stock valued at $171,393,831 over the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the second quarter worth $26,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 168.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Tesla during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Clean Yield Group increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a P/E ratio of 109.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $240.67.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.