Bank of America Upgrades Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Buy

Bank of America upgraded shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $220.00 target price on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on TSLA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Tesla from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $189.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Tesla from $267.00 to $234.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Tesla from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho reiterated a neutral rating and set a $195.00 target price (down from $270.00) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $180.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $186.22.

Tesla Price Performance

NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $162.13 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $516.35 billion, a PE ratio of 41.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 2.39. Tesla has a 12 month low of $138.80 and a 12 month high of $299.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $176.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.91.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 14.37% and a return on equity of 13.68%. Tesla’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total transaction of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,920,950. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total transaction of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,920,950. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.44, for a total transaction of $16,439,605.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,631,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 209,098 shares of company stock valued at $38,802,534. Corporate insiders own 25.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,806,372 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $57,102,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,866,361 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Tesla by 7.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $7,546,823,000 after purchasing an additional 2,177,397 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 0.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,040,734 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $7,266,572,000 after purchasing an additional 269,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Tesla by 3.4% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 27,542,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,891,765,000 after purchasing an additional 909,170 shares during the last quarter. 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.