Wells Fargo & Company Reaffirms Underweight Rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "underweight" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $125.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price would suggest a potential downside of 28.66% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on TSLA. KGI Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $213.00 price objective (down from $309.00) on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Edward Jones downgraded shares of Tesla from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, March 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Tesla from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $245.00 to $195.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Tesla from $200.00 to $180.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $204.63.

Tesla Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of TSLA stock traded down $0.57 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $175.22. The company had a trading volume of 81,365,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 102,341,688. The stock has a market capitalization of $558.04 billion, a PE ratio of 40.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 2.40. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $152.37 and a fifty-two week high of $299.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company's fifty day moving average is $186.33 and its 200 day moving average is $220.38.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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). Tesla had a return on equity of 16.62% and a net margin of 15.50%. The business had revenue of $25.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.07 earnings per share. Tesla's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total value of $2,143,785.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,376,229.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total value 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 accessible 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 value of $2,143,785.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,376,229.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 198,598 shares of company stock valued at $36,952,434. 20.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at $7,844,757,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 180,125.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,851,778 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $3,307,602,000 after acquiring an additional 26,836,879 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 203.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,208,699 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $5,360,358,000 after acquiring an additional 13,558,882 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 25,990.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,202,806 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $1,541,273,000 after acquiring an additional 6,179,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 25,427,168 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $3,132,119,000 after acquiring an additional 5,292,464 shares during the last quarter. 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.