Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Earns "Buy" Rating from Benchmark

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by research analysts at Benchmark in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $350.00 price target on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Benchmark's price target suggests a potential upside of 22.83% from the company's previous close.

Several other analysts have also commented on TSLA. Oppenheimer reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Tesla from $440.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Tesla from $404.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Tesla from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $287.46.

Tesla Stock Up 9.8 %

Shares of TSLA traded up $25.44 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $284.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 166,882,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 95,960,657. The firm has a market capitalization of $916.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.68, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The company's 50-day moving average is $263.98 and its 200-day moving average is $323.02. 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 52-week low of $167.41 and a 52-week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was 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 directly owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,737,500. The trade was a 12.92 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 374,228 shares of company stock valued at $123,791,123 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Tesla by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $98,211,134,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $24,566,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after buying an additional 9,920,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently 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.