Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 2.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were up 2.2% during trading on Wednesday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $345.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $412.53 and last traded at $410.00. Approximately 30,896,151 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 94,440,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $400.99.

TSLA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $257.36.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value of $15,138,915.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $391,164,540.60. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total value of $975,191.26. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $40,775,792.65. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 522,886 shares of company stock valued at $171,393,831. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 3,804 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Oriental Harbor Investment Fund purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the third quarter worth $14,700,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 23.3% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 8,200 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,145,000 after buying an additional 1,548 shares during the period. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1,089.8% during the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,949 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,789,000 after buying an additional 23,768 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.33, a P/E/G ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $290.95 and a 200-day moving average of $242.24.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 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.