Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 1.4% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $400.00 to $430.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $422.64 and last traded at $409.05. 34,813,041 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average session volume of 74,755,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $403.31.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on TSLA. Mizuho upgraded shares of Tesla from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $230.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Tesla from $156.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Tesla from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $296.60.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 621,886 shares of company stock worth $213,451,751. Insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 168.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Clean Yield Group increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 263.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

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 firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.59, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.30. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $379.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $283.29.

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