Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its target price upped by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential downside of 65.30% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on TSLA. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. 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 research report on Thursday, November 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Tesla from $249.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Tesla from $411.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $314.15.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $389.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $401.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $296.63. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued 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 return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. As a group, analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total value of $35,339,911.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,727,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,442,856.32. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 617,886 shares of company stock worth $212,451,751 over the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Tesla by 35,611.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 11,054,391 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,892,160,000 after buying an additional 11,023,436 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 36,790.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,497,526,000 after acquiring an additional 8,637,195 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Tesla by 194.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,486,739 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,215,765,000 after acquiring an additional 3,624,910 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,377,970,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,763 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Tesla by 52.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,344,526 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,921,548,000 after purchasing an additional 2,511,488 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.