Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target Raised to $259.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by investment analysts at UBS Group from $226.00 to $259.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "sell" rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock. UBS Group's target price indicates a potential downside of 32.50% from the stock's current price.

TSLA has been the topic of several other reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $365.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Tesla from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $490.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Tesla from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $318.31.

Tesla Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA traded down $20.92 during trading on Thursday, reaching $383.68. 90,645,607 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 75,804,148. The business's 50-day moving average price is $404.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.70. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 188.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 2.34. Tesla has a twelve month low of $138.80 and a twelve month high of $488.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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, equities analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 553,386 shares of company stock valued at $196,305,796 over the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1,248.9% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $52,124,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management boosted its position in Tesla by 12.1% during the third quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $3,296,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 59.2% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $30,593,000 after buying an additional 43,685 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $80,944,000 after acquiring an additional 9,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $37,801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,741 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.