Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) PT Lowered to $310.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $320.00 to $310.00 in a research note released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on TSLA. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an underweight rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday. Mizuho reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $195.00 price objective (down from $270.00) on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, March 25th. Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $267.00 to $234.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, 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. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Tesla has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $201.63.

Tesla Stock Up 1.6 %

TSLA stock traded up $2.73 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $171.11. 122,851,364 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 102,582,336. The company has a market cap of $544.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 2.39. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $184.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $218.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Tesla has a 52 week low of $152.37 and a 52 week high of $299.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $25.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 16.62% and a net margin of 15.50%. Tesla's revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total transaction of $2,143,785.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares in the company, valued at $6,376,229.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total value of $121,674.57. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,171 shares in the company, valued at $11,188,215.81. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total transaction of $2,143,785.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 31,230 shares in the company, valued at $6,376,229.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 25.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,844,757,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 180,125.4% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 26,836,879 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Tesla by 203.9% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 13,558,882 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 25,990.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Tesla by 26.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 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.