Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Earns "Sell" Rating from Guggenheim

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sell" rating reaffirmed by analysts at Guggenheim in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $175.00 target price on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Guggenheim's price objective would suggest a potential downside of 55.54% from the company's current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on TSLA. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 24th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $515.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $314.56.

Tesla Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ TSLA traded up $4.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $393.58. 44,919,076 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 72,095,328. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.73, a PEG ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. Tesla has a 1-year low of $138.80 and a 1-year high of $488.54. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $401.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $297.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,802. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.76, for a total value of $1,007,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,442,856.32. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 617,886 shares of company stock worth $212,451,751 in the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in Tesla by 130.2% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 122 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Clean Yield Group boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.