Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 2.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $265.00 to $350.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $294.87 and last traded at $294.59. Approximately 33,820,336 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 93,995,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $288.53.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on TSLA. William Blair began coverage on Tesla in a report on Thursday, August 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho upped their price target on Tesla from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $236.00 to $249.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $222.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,563,220 shares in the company, valued at $391,164,540.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 76,797 shares of company stock valued at $19,211,821 over the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Tesla by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,602,120 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $41,064,917,000 after acquiring an additional 3,795,748 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Tesla by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,201,212 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,192,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,093 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 35,611.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 11,054,391 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,892,160,000 after purchasing an additional 11,023,436 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Tesla by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 8,519,675 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,229,003,000 after buying an additional 33,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 21,816.0% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 5,902,416 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,167,970,000 after buying an additional 5,875,484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Trading Up 8.2 %

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 company has a market capitalization of $1.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 88.01, a P/E/G ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 2.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $241.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $214.90.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. Tesla’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current 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.