Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $125.00 to $135.00. The stock had previously closed at $389.10, but opened at $410.78. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Tesla shares last traded at $385.98, with a volume of 17,618,144 shares trading hands.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on TSLA. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America lowered Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $490.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Roth Capital raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $315.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.76, for a total value of $1,007,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,442,856.32. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total transaction of $15,138,915.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,563,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $391,164,540.60. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 617,886 shares of company stock valued at $212,451,751. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Clean Yield Group boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. M&R Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Tesla by 263.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.15, a PEG ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $401.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $297.28.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. As a group, analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS 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.