The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target to $175.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) had its price objective lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $190.00 to $175.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $165.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $250.00 to $225.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $200.00 to $180.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. They issued a sell rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Tesla has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $201.07.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of TSLA traded up $3.90 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $176.88. 102,998,891 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 103,215,086. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $183.06 and a 200-day moving average of $216.28. Tesla has a 52 week low of $152.37 and a 52 week high of $299.29. The stock has a market cap of $563.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.77, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 2.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.03). Tesla had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 16.62%. The company had revenue of $25.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of Tesla 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 sale, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,920,950. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of Tesla 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 sale, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,920,950. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.44, for a total transaction of $16,439,605.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,631,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 20.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Tesla during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Wyrmwood Management LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Lam Group Inc. acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Halpern Financial Inc. lifted its position in Tesla by 1,111.1% during the third quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 109 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Paradigm Partners LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the third quarter valued at $27,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.