Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 3.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shot up 3.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $345.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $407.82 and last traded at $403.24. 36,144,581 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 94,441,039 shares. The stock had previously closed at $389.79.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. KGI Securities upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and set a $124.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $280.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $257.36.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,868,508. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 522,886 shares of company stock worth $171,393,831. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,356,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $15,469,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,589 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,473,008,000 after purchasing an additional 828,308 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 13.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,377,970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,763 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,545,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $4,328,884,000 after purchasing an additional 301,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 11.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,201,212 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,192,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,093 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Stock Up 5.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $290.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $242.24. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 112.33, a PEG ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 2.36.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The business had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.