Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Sees Strong Trading Volume Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday after Wedbush raised their price target on the stock from $275.00 to $300.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Approximately 38,140,691 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the previous session’s volume of 96,062,297 shares.The stock last traded at $238.53 and had previously closed at $231.26.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $280.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $188.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.86, for a total value of $17,322,306.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,772,900. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.21, for a total value of $113,236.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 65,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,350,652.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.86, for a total value of $17,322,306.30. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,772,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 20.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,602,120 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $41,064,917,000 after buying an additional 3,795,748 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at about $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Tesla by 7.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,546,823,000 after buying an additional 2,177,397 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,155,878 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,765,933,000 after buying an additional 458,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 12.9% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 9,849,425 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,731,430,000 after buying an additional 1,125,329 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $761.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 2.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $179.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $191.09.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. Tesla had a return on equity of 13.18% and a net margin of 14.37%. The business had revenue of $21.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.15 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.86 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.