Truist Financial Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its target price lowered by analysts at Truist Financial from $373.00 to $280.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Truist Financial’s price target points to a potential upside of 16.94% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. New Street Research raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. HSBC reduced their price objective on Tesla from $165.00 to $130.00 and set a “reduce” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday. Finally, Glj Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $312.65.

Tesla Stock Down 10.4 %

Tesla stock opened at $239.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $305.98 and its 200-day moving average is $322.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $770.13 billion, a PE ratio of 117.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $24,566,217,000 after buying an additional 1,655,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 40.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Tesla by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares in 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.