Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Coverage Initiated at Benchmark

Analysts at Benchmark initiated coverage on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $475.00 price target on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Benchmark's price target indicates a potential upside of 33.49% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on TSLA. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Tesla from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Tesla from $515.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. KGI Securities raised Tesla from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Glj Research reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $24.86 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $326.50.

Tesla Stock Down 0.0 %

Tesla stock traded down $0.10 on Wednesday, hitting $355.84. 68,000,576 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 67,880,264. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $1.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 174.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $406.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $308.24. Tesla has a 1 year low of $138.80 and a 1 year high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total value of $35,254,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,903,716. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.06, for a total value of $39,792,803.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,095,100. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 523,386 shares of company stock valued at $195,995,200. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 6,889 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,782,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co increased its stake in Tesla by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 72,965 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $29,466,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 69,033 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $27,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares in the last quarter. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $665,000. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $915,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.