Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 0.7% on Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) shares traded up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to a moderate sell rating. The company traded as high as $262.80 and last traded at $261.46. 22,988,190 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 94,327,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.52.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on TSLA. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "underperform" rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, August 29th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $219.45.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Tesla news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at $14,967,479.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,258,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,297 shares of company stock valued at $3,065,866 over the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Falcon Wealth Planning lifted its position in Tesla by 4.4% in the third quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,398 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,538,000 after acquiring an additional 878 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $232,000. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. bought a new stake in Tesla during the third quarter worth approximately $253,000. Finally, United Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 35.7% in the third quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,974 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,871,000 after buying an additional 2,886 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Stock Down 0.8 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $826.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.56, a PEG ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 2.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $232.09 and a 200-day moving average of $209.16.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current 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.