Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 2% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shot up 2% during trading on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $180.00 to $182.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $166.38 and last traded at $165.39. 45,566,008 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 102,183,336 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.13.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Tesla from $225.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. China Renaissance began coverage on Tesla in a report on Monday, February 26th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Tesla from $294.00 to $293.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Tesla from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $186.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,376,229.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,376,229.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total transaction of $18,247,369.38. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,950. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534 in the last ninety days. 25.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $57,102,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,866,361 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Tesla by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,546,823,000 after acquiring an additional 2,177,397 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,040,734 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,266,572,000 after acquiring an additional 269,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $6,891,765,000 after buying an additional 909,170 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Stock Up 1.9 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.91. 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 has a market capitalization of $525.90 billion, a PE ratio of 42.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 2.39.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Tesla had a return on equity of 13.68% and a net margin of 14.37%. The firm had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS 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.