HSBC Reaffirms “Reduce” Rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “reduce” rating reissued by investment analysts at HSBC in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $124.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. HSBC’s price target points to a potential downside of 43.66% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on TSLA. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $245.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Tesla from $274.00 to $258.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Tesla from $134.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.72.

Tesla Trading Down 7.8 %

NASDAQ TSLA traded down $18.68 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $220.09. The company had a trading volume of 106,392,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 95,047,531. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $225.23 and a 200 day moving average of $203.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $703.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 2.29. Tesla has a 1-year low of $138.80 and a 1-year high of $271.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.10). Tesla had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 10.41%. The firm had revenue of $25.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 66,364 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.96, for a total value of $14,597,425.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,696,600. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at $14,967,479.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 66,364 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.96, for a total transaction of $14,597,425.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,696,600. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 74,661 shares of company stock worth $16,663,291 in the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,602,120 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $41,064,917,000 after buying an additional 3,795,748 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 9,849,425 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,731,430,000 after buying an additional 1,125,329 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 21,816.0% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 5,902,416 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,167,970,000 after buying an additional 5,875,484 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 5,314,395 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,051,613,000 after buying an additional 135,966 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,959,699 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $981,443,000 after buying an additional 412,872 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently 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.