Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Receives "Outperform" Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $550.00 price target on the electric vehicle producer's stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on TSLA. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "cautious" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Tesla from $500.00 to $450.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $318.34.

Tesla Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA traded down $9.58 during trading on Thursday, hitting $263.55. The company had a trading volume of 123,100,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 93,218,015. The stock has a market cap of $847.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $321.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $322.34. Tesla has a one year low of $138.80 and a one year high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 in the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,186,000. Avant Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $519,000. Fire Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth $5,424,000. Fulcrum Equity Management raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 1,103 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, M1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at about $863,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.