Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 2.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) were up 2.2% during trading on Friday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $249.00 to $313.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $320.13 and last traded at $318.10. Approximately 44,128,813 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 95,711,000 shares. The stock had previously closed at $311.18.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on TSLA. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $295.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $230.18.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,258,000. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the business's 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. This represents a 0.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Tesla during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Tesla by 168.8% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group increased its position in Tesla by 60.0% during the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Stock Up 3.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm's 50-day moving average is $250.10 and its 200 day moving average is $219.58. The stock has a market cap of $1.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 2.29.

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

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.