JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. has raised its target price for Tesla from $115.00 to $150.00, indicating a potential downside of 66.05% from the current stock price.
• Despite a recent earnings miss, several analysts have given Tesla strong ratings, with Baird R W upgrading the stock to a "strong-buy" and other firms raising their target prices significantly.
• Insider trading activity has been notable, with the company's CFO and a director selling substantial amounts of stock, leading to a 40.31% and 14.69% decrease, respectively, in their holdings.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) had its target price increased by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $115.00 to $150.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective points to a potential downside of 66.05% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on TSLA. Baird R W raised shares of Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Argus restated a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, June 9th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Tesla from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $548.00 in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Glj Research reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $343.43.

Tesla Stock Up 1.3%

TSLA stock opened at $441.78 on Friday. Tesla has a one year low of $212.11 and a one year high of $488.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 255.42, a PEG ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 2.08. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $361.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $319.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.04.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.03). Tesla had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 6.54%.The business had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $23.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.89, for a total transaction of $1,171,560.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 5,924 shares in the company, valued at $1,735,080.36. This represents a 40.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total value of $42,034,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 697,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $244,162,988.99. This represents a 14.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 208,606 shares of company stock worth $77,360,462. Company insiders own 19.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Means Investment CO. Inc. lifted its stake in Tesla by 37.7% during the first quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 23,089 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $5,984,000 after purchasing an additional 6,323 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 22,467 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $5,823,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. Siren L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 1st quarter valued at $2,332,000. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Tesla by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 12,748 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $3,304,000 after buying an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla during the 1st quarter worth $594,000. 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.

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