Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its target price cut by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $430.00 to $410.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 73.54% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on TSLA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Roth Mkm raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.93.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $236.26 on Friday. Tesla has a one year low of $138.80 and a one year high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $338.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $319.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $759.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at $7,242,273.50. The trade was a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 in the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Tesla by 1,248.9% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $52,124,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management grew its position in Tesla by 12.1% during the third quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its position in Tesla by 126.7% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 1,594 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Tesla by 59.2% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $30,593,000 after purchasing an additional 43,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in Tesla by 3.3% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $80,944,000 after purchasing an additional 9,919 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Company Profile

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.