Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $226.00 to $259.00. The stock had previously closed at $389.10, but opened at $410.78. UBS Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. Tesla shares last traded at $385.98, with a volume of 17,618,144 shares traded.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Tesla from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Tesla from $480.00 to $440.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $411.00 to $492.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $318.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,868,508. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total transaction of $15,138,915.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares in the company, valued at $391,164,540.60. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 617,886 shares of company stock worth $212,451,751 over the last quarter. Insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Tesla by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,356,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $15,469,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,589 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 3.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $6,473,008,000 after acquiring an additional 828,308 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $6,377,970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,763 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,545,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $4,328,884,000 after buying an additional 301,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,201,212 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $3,192,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,093 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Trading Up 2.9 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.67, a PEG ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $401.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $297.28.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.