Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Roth Mkm upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Benchmark assumed coverage on Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $475.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $404.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, New Street Research upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $325.65.

Tesla Trading Up 3.9 %

Tesla stock opened at $249.98 on Friday. 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 has a 52 week low of $138.80 and a 52 week high of $488.54. The company has a market capitalization of $804.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $351.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $318.74.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 in the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 193.3% during the 4th quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.