Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $226.00 to $259.00. The stock had previously closed at $389.10, but opened at $410.78. UBS Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. Tesla shares last traded at $385.98, with a volume of 17,618,144 shares trading hands.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on TSLA. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Tesla from $315.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $318.31.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total value of $34,602,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,868,508. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 553,386 shares of company stock worth $196,305,796. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Tesla in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA purchased a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 130.2% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 122 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Tesla in the third quarter valued at $35,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 109.67, a P/E/G ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $401.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $297.28.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. Equities analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.