Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 11.9% Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price traded up 11.9% during trading on Wednesday 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 $167.97 and last traded at $161.83. 89,534,047 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average session volume of 101,746,445 shares. The stock had previously closed at $144.68.

TSLA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Tesla from $320.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Tesla from $190.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Eight research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $186.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total value of $18,247,369.38. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,920,950. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total value of $18,247,369.38. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,950. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.44, for a total transaction of $16,439,605.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,631,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534. 20.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Tesla by 1.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $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 purchasing an additional 2,177,397 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 0.9% during 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 boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 27,542,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,891,765,000 after acquiring an additional 909,170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $176.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.73. The stock has a market cap of $516.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.41, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 2.39.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $25.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 16.62% and a net margin of 15.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS 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.