Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 3.7% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shot up 3.7% on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $287.00 to $411.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $345.45 and last traded at $345.16. 37,167,621 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 95,239,375 shares. The stock had previously closed at $332.89.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. KGI Securities raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and issued a $124.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Glj Research reissued a “sell” rating and set a $24.86 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $243.75.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. This represents a 0.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total transaction of $15,138,915.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares in the company, valued at $391,164,540.60. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 301,187 shares of company stock valued at $92,956,692. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Tesla during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Tesla by 168.8% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Tesla during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 60.0% in the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Trading Up 3.7 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $274.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 94.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.21 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84.

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

Tesla Company Profile

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.