Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $310.00 to $400.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Glj Research reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $24.86 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and issued a $124.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Tesla currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.48.

Tesla Stock Up 2.9 %

TSLA stock opened at $400.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 109.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $288.09 and a 200-day moving average of $240.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. Tesla has a one year low of $138.80 and a one year high of $409.73.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Tesla will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,868,508. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,258,000. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 522,886 shares of company stock worth $171,393,831 over the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 184,459 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 59.2% in 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. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Tesla by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $37,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 3.3% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Tesla by 109.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 9,425 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,466,000 after buying an additional 4,929 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.