UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $226.00 to $259.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sell” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. UBS Group’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 35.99% from the company’s previous close.

TSLA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $411.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on Tesla from $351.00 to $373.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Tesla from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.31.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $404.60 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 198.33, a P/E/G ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 2.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $403.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $297.99. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.54%. Analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total value of $34,602,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,868,508. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 553,386 shares of company stock worth $196,305,796 in the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 1,248.9% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $52,124,000 after buying an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management raised its holdings in Tesla by 12.1% during the third quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Tesla by 59.2% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $30,593,000 after purchasing an additional 43,685 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $80,944,000 after purchasing an additional 9,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Tesla by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $37,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.