Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Hold Rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has reiterated a hold rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in their latest investor note.
• Analysts have mixed perspectives on Tesla, with ratings ranging from underperform to strong buy, and an average price target of $366.73.
• Tesla's recent earnings report showed earnings per share of $0.50, beating estimates by $0.02, with a revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, indicating a strong year-over-year growth of 11.6%.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reissued by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on TSLA. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $307.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $355.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Glj Research reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and ten have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $366.73.

Tesla Stock Performance

TSLA stock opened at $438.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 253.74, a P/E/G ratio of 15.91 and a beta of 2.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $393.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $336.97. Tesla has a 52 week low of $212.11 and a 52 week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $28.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $24.98 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company's revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total value of $918,302.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,473,057.28. The trade was a 20.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total transaction of $7,275,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at $17,314,500. This represents a 29.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902 in the last 90 days. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chapman Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI bought a new stake in Tesla during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. raised its holdings in Tesla by 59.7% during the 1st quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 107 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Centennial Bank AR raised its holdings in Tesla by 833.3% during the 1st quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 112 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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