Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Wells Fargo & Company Analyst Says

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "underweight" rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target would indicate a potential downside of 66.27% from the stock's current price.

TSLA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $249.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Guggenheim reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Tesla currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $317.28.

Tesla Trading Up 2.9 %

Tesla stock traded up $11.18 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $400.28. The stock had a trading volume of 97,437,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 75,059,930. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 109.67, a PEG ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $401.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $297.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Tesla has a 52 week low of $138.80 and a 52 week high of $488.54.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. Analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value 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 approximately $391,164,540.60. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 617,886 shares of company stock valued at $212,451,751. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA bought a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 130.2% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 122 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. 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.