Tesla's (TSLA) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush restated their outperform rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $550.00 target price on the electric vehicle producer's stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Tesla from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $318.93.

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Tesla Price Performance

Tesla stock traded up $12.45 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $248.71. 132,093,084 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 91,269,538. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $335.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $321.15. Tesla has a twelve month low of $138.80 and a twelve month high of $488.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $799.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. Equities analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. The trade was a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hengehold Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI boosted its stake in Tesla by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 6,990 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $2,823,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $1,136,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Tesla by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $2,950,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vista Finance LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 3,510 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $1,417,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.