Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Rating Reiterated by Needham & Company LLC

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on TSLA. Barclays dropped their price objective on Tesla from $225.00 to $220.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $286.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Tesla from $274.00 to $258.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group cut shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $147.00 to $197.00 in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $219.00.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA opened at $269.19 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $229.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.79. The stock has a market cap of $858.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.67, a P/E/G ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $271.00.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 10.41%. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Tesla will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,258,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 25.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Tesla during the second quarter worth $25,000. Clean Yield Group increased its position in Tesla by 60.0% in the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 168.8% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Tesla during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 263.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.