Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Rating Lowered by Baird R W

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was downgraded by equities researchers at Baird R W from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. HSBC decreased their target price on Tesla from $165.00 to $130.00 and set a “reduce” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Tesla from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $325.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $295.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.67.

Tesla Stock Performance

TSLA stock opened at $308.58 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $292.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $333.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $993.92 billion, a PE ratio of 151.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla has a 12-month low of $167.41 and a 12-month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. The firm had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 91,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $357.39, for a total value of $32,732,635.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,463,220 shares in the company, valued at $522,940,195.80. This trade represents a 5.89% 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 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,737,500. This trade represents a 12.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 818,509 shares of company stock valued at $273,791,775 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Wealth Group Ltd. acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $275,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $1,361,000. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $374,000. Eagle Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $331,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Tesla by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 87,929 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $35,509,000 after acquiring an additional 9,293 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.