Truist Financial Cuts Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target to $280.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price objective dropped by Truist Financial from $373.00 to $280.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.94% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Tesla from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $312.65.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ TSLA opened at $239.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $305.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $322.90. Tesla has a 1 year low of $138.80 and a 1 year high of $488.54. The firm has a market cap of $770.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.37, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total transaction of $43,162,255.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $24,566,217,000 after buying an additional 1,655,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Tesla in the 4th quarter worth $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.