Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from $123.00 to $136.00. The stock had previously closed at $144.68, but opened at $162.84. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a hold rating on the stock. Tesla shares last traded at $166.94, with a volume of 59,321,370 shares changing hands.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on TSLA. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $200.00 to $180.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Tesla from $294.00 to $293.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price target on Tesla from $225.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday. Eight research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $186.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,920,950. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,920,950. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total transaction of $121,674.57. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 63,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,188,215.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534 over the last three months. 25.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,940 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 4.6% during the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 32,230 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $8,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.7% during the third quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 728,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $182,352,000 after purchasing an additional 25,943 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 46,414 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $11,533,000 after purchasing an additional 6,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 776,765 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $193,935,000 after purchasing an additional 81,729 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Trading Up 5.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $541.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 2.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $175.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.64.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 13.18% and a net margin of 14.37%. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

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.