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

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) traded up 2.1% on Friday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $195.00 to $275.00. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $389.95 and last traded at $387.10. 28,789,549 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 67,481,227 shares. The stock had previously closed at $379.28.

TSLA has been the subject of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays raised their target price on Tesla from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $283.39.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total value of $975,191.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $40,775,792.65. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total value of $34,602,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,868,508. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 514,886 shares of company stock worth $169,393,831 in the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings 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 worth $30,593,000 after purchasing an additional 43,685 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $80,944,000 after buying an additional 9,919 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,741 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $359.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 112.45, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 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.