Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 2.9% – Still a Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price shot up 2.9% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $449.40 and last traded at $448.86. 37,926,875 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 94,452,867 shares. The stock had previously closed at $436.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on TSLA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. KGI Securities raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $230.00 to $515.00 in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $272.06.

Tesla Trading Up 3.6 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $310.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.62. The firm has a market cap of $1.54 trillion, a P/E ratio of 131.47, a P/E/G ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. The company 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%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. Tesla’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total transaction of $35,254,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,903,716. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total transaction of $975,191.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 522,886 shares of company stock worth $171,393,831. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Connable Office Inc. increased its position in shares of Tesla by 0.3% during the third quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 12,872 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,368,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 908 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Holistic Financial Partners increased its holdings in Tesla by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 4,055 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc lifted its stake in Tesla by 1.4% during the third quarter. Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc now owns 3,058 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Altman Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 0.4% during the third quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 10,754 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,814,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.