Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 1.4% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 1.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $400.00 to $430.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $422.64 and last traded at $409.05. Approximately 34,813,041 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 74,755,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $403.31.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $360.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total value of $34,602,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,868,508. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’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 owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 621,886 shares of company stock worth $213,451,751 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Clean Yield Group increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 263.2% in the third quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $382.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $284.69. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 108.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.30.

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