Truist Financial Has Lowered Expectations for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Truist Financial from $373.00 to $280.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Tesla from $474.00 to $455.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Cowen raised shares of Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Tesla from $500.00 to $450.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price objective on Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $305.31.

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Tesla Price Performance

NASDAQ TSLA traded down $6.14 on Thursday, hitting $233.29. The company had a trading volume of 177,679,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 94,609,830. The company has a market capitalization of $750.38 billion, a PE ratio of 114.36, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The company's fifty day moving average price is $305.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $324.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. Tesla has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. As a group, analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. This trade represents a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,400. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 370,228 shares of company stock worth $122,791,123 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Tesla by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Tesla by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $24,566,217,000 after buying an additional 1,655,203 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Tesla by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.