Guggenheim Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price objective reduced by equities research analysts at Guggenheim from $175.00 to $170.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a “sell” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Guggenheim’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 31.37% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on TSLA. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price target on Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Barclays raised their price objective on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. New Street Research raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Tesla currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $326.28.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ TSLA traded up $17.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $247.71. 33,511,509 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 85,588,969. Tesla has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $360.40 and a 200 day moving average of $319.53. The company has a market cap of $796.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,242,273.50. This trade represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 422,452 shares of company stock valued at $153,659,530 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 1,248.9% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $52,124,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares during the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 12.1% in the third 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 during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 126.7% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 1,594 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Tesla by 59.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $30,593,000 after buying an additional 43,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 3.3% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $80,944,000 after buying an additional 9,919 shares during 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.