Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 3.4% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price rose 3.4% during trading on Thursday after CICC Research raised their price target on the stock from $450.00 to $500.00. CICC Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $490.86 and last traded at $483.37. Approximately 94,128,757 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 5% from the average daily volume of 98,790,867 shares. The stock had previously closed at $467.26.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on TSLA. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $374.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. HSBC reaffirmed a “reduce” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Tesla from $341.00 to $471.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and nine have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $402.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 56,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.66, for a total transaction of $25,606,501.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,391,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $627,145,215.90. This represents a 3.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,637 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.93, for a total value of $1,170,643.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,107,145.01. This represents a 16.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Chapman Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. grew its stake in Tesla by 59.7% in the first quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 107 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Tesla during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Tesla during the second quarter worth about $30,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Trading Up 3.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 322.25, a P/E/G ratio of 11.68 and a beta of 1.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $438.62 and a 200-day moving average of $379.59.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The business had revenue of $28.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast 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.