Morgan Stanley Lowers Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target to $410.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $430.00 to $410.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 64.85% from the stock’s current price.

TSLA has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Roth Capital upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.93.

Tesla Stock Performance

Tesla stock opened at $248.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $335.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $320.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $799.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 in the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after buying an additional 9,920,325 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 36,790.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,497,526,000 after buying an additional 8,637,195 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Tesla by 4,963.0% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,834,707 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,356,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,719,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Tesla by 21.6% in 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. 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.