Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Upgraded at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $425.00 target price on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, February 10th. 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 research report on Monday, March 10th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $388.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.93.

Tesla Price Performance

Tesla stock opened at $248.71 on Wednesday. Tesla has a 52-week low of $138.80 and a 52-week high of $488.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $335.19 and its 200 day moving average is $319.68. The company has a market cap of $799.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.92, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced 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 net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, 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 transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

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