Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 1.4% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were up 1.4% on Tuesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $270.00 to $325.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $422.64 and last traded at $409.05. Approximately 34,813,041 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 74,755,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $403.31.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on TSLA. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and set a $124.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $156.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $299.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value of $15,138,915.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $391,164,540.60. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.76, for a total transaction of $1,007,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,442,856.32. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 621,886 shares of company stock valued at $213,451,751 over the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Acropolis Investment Management LLC increased its position in Tesla by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,136,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Tesla by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,950,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Connable Office Inc. grew its stake in Tesla by 0.3% during the third quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 12,872 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,368,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. grew its stake in Tesla by 4.4% during the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 908 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holistic Financial Partners grew its stake in Tesla by 1.0% during the third quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 4,055 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,061,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.32, a P/E/G ratio of 10.80 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $382.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.69.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

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.