Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Benchmark

Benchmark began coverage on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $475.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on TSLA. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Tesla from $480.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KGI Securities upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $326.50.

Tesla Stock Performance

TSLA opened at $336.51 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $407.68 and its 200 day moving average is $306.23. 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 $1.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 164.96, a PEG ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34. Tesla has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total transaction of $975,191.26. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total value of $27,590,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,463,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,274,741.40. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 635,776 shares of company stock worth $231,335,112 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. increased its stake in Tesla by 193.3% in the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. 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.