Guggenheim Reaffirms Sell Rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “sell” rating reiterated by analysts at Guggenheim in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $175.00 price target on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Guggenheim’s price target indicates a potential downside of 56.28% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on TSLA. Mizuho raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $230.00 to $515.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $280.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Glj Research restated a “sell” rating and set a $24.86 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lowered Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $490.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $318.31.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of TSLA opened at $400.28 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.67, a PEG ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $401.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $297.28. Tesla has a 1-year low of $138.80 and a 1-year high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued 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 net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. On average, research analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total transaction of $35,339,911.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,727,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 553,386 shares of company stock valued at $196,305,796. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 16,451 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,664 shares in the last quarter. Stanich Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $312,000. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $624,000. Lee Financial Co increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 1,421 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Tesla by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 1,330 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.