Wells Fargo & Company Increases Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target to $135.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $125.00 to $135.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on TSLA. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $365.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Tesla from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $515.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $318.31.

Tesla Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $400.28 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $401.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $297.28. Tesla has a 52-week low of $138.80 and a 52-week high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 196.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 2.30.

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 (EPS) 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 10.54%. On average, analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,868,508. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total value of $975,191.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 553,386 shares of company stock valued at $196,305,796. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Clean Yield Group boosted its position in Tesla by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the third quarter valued at $35,000. M&R Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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