Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Up Following 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.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on TSLA. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Tesla from $411.00 to $492.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $365.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and set a $124.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $515.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total value of $35,339,911.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,727,400. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 553,386 shares of company stock valued at $196,305,796. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Tesla by 1,248.9% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $52,124,000 after buying an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Tesla by 59.2% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $30,593,000 after purchasing an additional 43,685 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 3.3% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $80,944,000 after purchasing an additional 9,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Tesla by 1.2% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $37,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $401.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $297.28.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly 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 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. On average, analysts forecast 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.