Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 3.7% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares traded up 3.7% on Friday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $226.00 to $259.00. UBS Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $418.44 and last traded at $415.03. 29,286,134 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 72,564,250 shares. The stock had previously closed at $400.28.

TSLA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Tesla from $480.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $318.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total transaction of $35,339,911.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $26,727,400. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 553,386 shares of company stock valued at $196,305,796 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 74,255 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $29,987,000 after purchasing an additional 6,551 shares in the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 12,946 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $5,228,000 after purchasing an additional 4,372 shares during the last quarter. WestHill Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at about $282,000. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,922,000. Finally, Vawter Financial Ltd. bought a new stake in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $209,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Trading Up 1.1 %

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $404.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.05. 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 has a market capitalization of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 198.33, a PEG ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 2.30.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.54%. Analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.82 EPS 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.