Cantor Fitzgerald Upgrades Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Overweight

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was upgraded by equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $425.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target points to a potential upside of 88.63% from the company’s previous close.

TSLA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, February 10th. Benchmark started coverage on Tesla in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $475.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer restated a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $321.12.

Tesla Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $225.31 on Wednesday. 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 1 year low of $138.80 and a 1 year high of $488.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $344.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $320.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $724.71 billion, a PE ratio of 110.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. GS Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 193.3% during the 4th quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.