Royal Bank of Canada Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price target reduced by Royal Bank of Canada from $440.00 to $320.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on TSLA. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Cowen raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $319.56.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $236.26 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $338.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $319.44. Tesla has a 52 week low of $138.80 and a 52 week 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 $759.93 billion, a PE ratio of 115.81, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the business’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 transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. GS Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 193.3% during the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by 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.