Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirty-eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation, eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $326.31.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on TSLA. Phillip Securities cut shares of Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,242,273.50. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total transaction of $43,162,255.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 422,452 shares of company stock worth $153,659,530. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Tesla by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $24,566,217,000 after buying an additional 1,655,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

TSLA stock opened at $222.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $714.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.90, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $363.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $319.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. Tesla has a 52-week low of $138.80 and a 52-week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

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.