Truist Financial Lowers Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target to $162.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its target price decreased by equities research analysts at Truist Financial from $176.00 to $162.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Truist Financial’s target price indicates a potential upside of 11.97% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on TSLA. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Tesla from $190.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. KGI Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $213.00 target price (down previously from $309.00) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $195.00 price target (down previously from $270.00) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Tesla from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $298.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $190.30.

Tesla Price Performance

NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $144.68 on Wednesday. Tesla has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $299.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $176.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $460.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 2.39.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.03). Tesla had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 16.62%. The firm had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. Tesla’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total transaction of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,950. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.20, for a total value of $1,850,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,502,726. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total value of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,920,950. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534. Insiders own 20.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,806,372 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $57,102,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,866,361 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Tesla by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,546,823,000 after purchasing an additional 2,177,397 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,040,734 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,266,572,000 after purchasing an additional 269,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Tesla by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 27,542,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,891,765,000 after purchasing an additional 909,170 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.