Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at Bank of America

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was downgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $490.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $400.00. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 24.07% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on TSLA. Glj Research restated a “sell” rating and set a $24.86 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $295.69.

Tesla Stock Performance

Tesla stock opened at $394.94 on Tuesday. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.20, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $370.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $25.18 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Tesla will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,164,540.60. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,258,000. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 621,886 shares of company stock worth $213,451,751. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in Tesla by 39.9% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 61,681 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $12,202,000 after purchasing an additional 17,592 shares in the last quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 14.8% in the second quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,485 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Tesla by 114.0% in the second quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 141,779 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $28,055,000 after acquiring an additional 75,526 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 20.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 16,041 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,174,000 after acquiring an additional 2,745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Tesla by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,249,816 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $247,314,000 after purchasing an additional 16,451 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.