JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its target price decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $135.00 to $120.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would suggest a potential downside of 50.14% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on TSLA. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $388.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $325.81.

Tesla Trading Down 3.0 %

NASDAQ TSLA opened at $240.68 on Wednesday. Tesla has a twelve month low of $138.80 and a twelve month high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock has a market cap of $774.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.98, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $354.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $318.49.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the 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 owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 in the last quarter. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in Tesla by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Tesla by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. raised its position in Tesla by 193.3% in the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. 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.