Piper Sandler Issues Positive Forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price objective increased by Piper Sandler from $315.00 to $500.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $411.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Roth Mkm raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $230.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.94.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $424.07 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $391.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 2.30. 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 has a twelve month low of $138.80 and a twelve month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. Analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.76, for a total transaction of $1,007,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,442,856.32. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 621,886 shares of company stock worth $213,451,751. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

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