Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target Cut to $162.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at Truist Financial from $176.00 to $162.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Truist Financial’s price target points to a potential downside of 4.81% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Tesla from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $245.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $190.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. KGI Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $213.00 price objective (down previously from $309.00) on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Edward Jones cut shares of Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $186.70.

Tesla Price Performance

Tesla stock opened at $170.18 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.64. The company has a market capitalization of $541.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 2.39. Tesla has a 1 year low of $138.80 and a 1 year high of $299.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.73.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.44, for a total value of $16,439,605.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,631,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.44, for a total value of $16,439,605.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,631,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total transaction of $2,143,785.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,376,229.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534. Corporate insiders own 25.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. KG&L Capital Management LLC raised its position in Tesla by 148.3% in the 1st quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC now owns 9,933 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,746,000 after purchasing an additional 5,933 shares during the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Tesla by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 34,660 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,093,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Davies Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Tesla in the 1st quarter valued at $460,000. Caliber Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Tesla by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Caliber Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,682 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in Tesla by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 44,345 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,795,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. 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.