Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) were up 4% during trading on Friday after Wedbush raised their price target on the stock from $500.00 to $600.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $440.47 and last traded at $440.40. Approximately 100,854,081 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 2% from the average daily volume of 103,158,555 shares. The stock had previously closed at $423.39.

TSLA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $548.00 in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $375.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $410.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and nine have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $332.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total value of $42,034,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 697,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,162,988.99. This represents a 14.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.89, for a total transaction of $1,171,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 5,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,735,080.36. The trade was a 40.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 208,606 shares of company stock valued at $77,360,462 in the last 90 days. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Holos Integrated Wealth LLC now owns 309 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp raised its position in shares of Tesla by 1.3% in the second quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 2,413 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $767,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Kaye Capital Management raised its position in shares of Tesla by 3.1% in the second quarter. Kaye Capital Management now owns 1,047 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 941 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wambolt & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC now owns 3,119 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $938,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 254.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 2.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $352.05 and its 200 day moving average is $314.42.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 6.54%.The company’s revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 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.