Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 0.2% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price shot up 0.2% on Thursday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $345.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $426.92 and last traded at $425.50. 35,914,400 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 94,495,805 shares. The stock had previously closed at $424.77.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on TSLA. Phillip Securities lowered Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Tesla from $236.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $257.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total transaction of $35,339,911.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,727,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 522,886 shares of company stock worth $171,393,831 over the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in Tesla in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 168.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the third quarter worth $29,000. Clean Yield Group boosted its position in Tesla by 60.0% during the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Tesla in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.52 and a beta of 2.36. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $298.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $244.72.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.