Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 5.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) were up 5.3% during mid-day trading on Monday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from $295.00 to $370.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $389.49 and last traded at $389.22. Approximately 81,455,834 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 87,944,376 shares. The stock had previously closed at $369.49.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. William Blair began coverage on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, August 29th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, November 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $248.12.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total transaction of $15,138,915.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares in the company, valued at $391,164,540.60. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.43, for a total value of $2,481,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $37,226,491.76. This trade represents a 6.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 520,280 shares of company stock valued at $170,418,640. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Tesla during the third quarter worth $232,000. Oriental Harbor Investment Fund bought a new stake in Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at $14,700,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its position in shares of Tesla by 23.3% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 8,200 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,145,000 after acquiring an additional 1,548 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 1,089.8% during the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,949 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 23,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Tesla by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,958,174 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,035,577,000 after purchasing an additional 300,951 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $285.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.15. The company has a market cap of $1.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 106.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 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.