Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its target price lifted by Barclays from $270.00 to $325.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would suggest a potential downside of 21.46% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. New Street Research upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, November 18th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $156.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Tesla Stock Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ TSLA opened at $413.82 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $385.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $285.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 113.38, a P/E/G ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 2.30. Tesla has a 52 week low of $138.80 and a 52 week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Tesla’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,868,508. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were 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 owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 621,886 shares of company stock worth $213,451,751 over the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Acropolis Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Tesla by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,950,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Connable Office Inc. raised its position in Tesla by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 12,872 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,368,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its stake in Tesla by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 908 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Holistic Financial Partners grew its position in Tesla by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 4,055 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.