Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Given “Buy” Rating at Canaccord Genuity Group

Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated their buy rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $404.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $475.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $323.00.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $238.01 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $347.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $320.53. The company has a market cap of $765.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. Tesla has a 12 month low of $138.80 and a 12 month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Tesla by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571,793 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $24,566,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Tesla by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.