Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 3.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price traded up 3.7% during mid-day trading on Friday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $226.00 to $259.00. UBS Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $418.44 and last traded at $415.03. 29,286,134 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 72,564,250 shares. The stock had previously closed at $400.28.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on TSLA. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Tesla from $480.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital raised Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho restated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 553,386 shares of company stock worth $196,305,796. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Clean Yield Group boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. M&R Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 263.2% during the third quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Trading Up 3.6 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $403.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $297.99. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 203.45, a PEG ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.54%. Equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.82 earnings per share 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.