Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Lowers Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Hold

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $123.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer's stock, down from their previous price objective of $189.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on TSLA. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $200.00 to $180.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Tesla from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and cut their price target for the company from $245.00 to $195.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $298.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $194.70.

Tesla Stock Down 3.6 %

TSLA traded down $5.52 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $149.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 95,522,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 101,837,430. The firm has a market capitalization of $477.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.79, a PEG ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 2.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Tesla has a 1 year low of $148.70 and a 1 year high of $299.29. The stock's 50-day moving average is $179.45 and its 200-day moving average is $212.21.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). Tesla had a return on equity of 16.62% and a net margin of 15.50%. The business had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. Tesla's revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Tesla will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total transaction of $121,674.57. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,188,215.81. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total transaction of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,920,950. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total transaction of $121,674.57. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,171 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,188,215.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534 in the last three months. Company insiders own 25.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth about $7,844,757,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 180,125.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,851,778 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $3,307,602,000 after buying an additional 26,836,879 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 203.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,208,699 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $5,360,358,000 after buying an additional 13,558,882 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 25,990.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,202,806 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $1,541,273,000 after buying an additional 6,179,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 25,427,168 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $3,132,119,000 after buying an additional 5,292,464 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Company Profile

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.