Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Given Outperform Rating at Wedbush

Wedbush restated their outperform rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $400.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer's stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on TSLA. William Blair assumed coverage on Tesla in a report on Thursday, August 29th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Glj Research reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $24.86 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Tesla from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Tesla from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Tesla from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $230.18.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA traded up $18.02 during trading on Monday, reaching $338.74. 126,164,834 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 96,161,813. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla has a 52 week low of $138.80 and a 52 week high of $358.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 94.60, a PEG ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 2.29. The company's 50 day moving average is $252.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $221.01.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Tesla will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,868,508. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. This trade represents a 0.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 188,797 shares of company stock worth $57,616,781 over the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Tesla by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 36,399 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $6,399,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 113.9% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 65,437 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $11,503,000 after acquiring an additional 34,850 shares during the period. Leelyn Smith LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 107.2% during the first quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 10,831 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $1,904,000 after acquiring an additional 5,603 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Tesla in the first quarter valued at about $9,703,000. Finally, Mattern Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Tesla by 33.6% in the first quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 5,195 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $913,000 after buying an additional 1,307 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.