Robert W. Baird Boosts Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target to $480.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price objective hoisted by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from $280.00 to $480.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.05% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $156.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $272.06.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $436.17 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 119.50, a P/E/G ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The company has a fifty day moving average of $318.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $254.21.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total transaction of $15,138,915.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $391,164,540.60. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total transaction of $975,191.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,775,792.65. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 522,886 shares of company stock valued at $171,393,831. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Tesla by 168.8% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Clean Yield Group lifted its stake in Tesla by 60.0% in the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.