Piper Sandler Cuts Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target to $450.00

Key Points

• Piper Sandler cut Tesla’s price target from $500 to $450, but kept an overweight rating. The new target still implies about 40.8% upside from Tesla’s current share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed overall: MarketBeat shows a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $404.95, reflecting a split between buy, hold, and sell calls.
• Tesla’s latest results were mixed, with revenue of $28.24 billion beating estimates but adjusted EPS of $0.33 missing expectations, alongside concerns about margin pressure and heavy capital spending on AI and robotaxi initiatives.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by research analysts at Piper Sandler from $500.00 to $450.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Piper Sandler's price target would indicate a potential upside of 40.76% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on TSLA. Glj Research reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, June 29th. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. China Renaissance reduced their target price on shares of Tesla from $382.00 to $372.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Tesla from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $385.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $404.95.

Tesla Trading Down 14.5%

TSLA opened at $319.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 296.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 1.80. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $402.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $403.16. Tesla has a 1-year low of $297.82 and a 1-year high of $498.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.62.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.17). Tesla had a net margin of 3.67% and a return on equity of 3.88%. The company had revenue of $28.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. Tesla's revenue for the quarter was up 25.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Tesla will post 1.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total transaction of $1,350,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,106 shares in the company, valued at $8,147,700. This represents a 14.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 26,409 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $378.11, for a total value of $9,985,506.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 48,399 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,300,145.89. This trade represents a 35.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 32,015 shares of company stock valued at $12,383,640 over the last 90 days. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 87,929 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $35,509,000 after purchasing an additional 9,293 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,317 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $2,147,000 after buying an additional 931 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 52.2% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 10,368 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $4,187,000 after buying an additional 3,558 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,135 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $3,855,000 after buying an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGP Franklin LLC grew its position in shares of Tesla by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. AGP Franklin LLC now owns 4,861 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $1,544,000 after buying an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Tesla

Here are the key news stories impacting Tesla this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Tesla reported record quarterly revenue of $28.24 billion, up about 26% year over year, helped by strong deliveries and continued growth in services and energy. Tesla Q2 2026 earnings: revenue beats, profit misses estimates
• Positive Sentiment: The company said it is expanding robotaxi and Optimus efforts, which bulls see as long-term growth drivers if Tesla can execute. We have more numbers on Tesla's Robotaxi progress. Here are the 7 that matter most.
• Neutral Sentiment: The U.S. auto safety regulator denied a petition to investigate Tesla’s door-release design, removing one overhang for now, but the broader safety debate around Tesla’s design choices remains. US auto safety regulator denies petition seeking Tesla door-release defect probe
• Negative Sentiment: Profit missed expectations: Tesla posted adjusted EPS of $0.33 versus estimates near $0.50-$0.51, reinforcing concerns that pricing pressure and rising costs are squeezing margins. Elon Musk's Tesla posts cash burn as capex surges on AI, robotaxi push
• Negative Sentiment: Tesla also reported negative free cash flow of $1.1 billion as capital spending more than doubled, with management signaling about $25 billion in full-year capex tied to AI, autonomy, batteries, and manufacturing. Tesla sees a $200 billion wipeout as investors pan Musk's plan to spend 'as fast as we can'
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are increasingly worried that Tesla’s AI and robotaxi bets are years away from meaningful revenue, while current auto margins weaken and competition in autonomous driving looks stronger than expected. Tesla Trailing Alphabet's Waymo on Robotaxis Without Safety Monitors

About Tesla

Tesla, Inc NASDAQ: TSLA is an American company that designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles, energy generation and energy storage products. Founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, Tesla grew into a vertically integrated mobility and clean‑energy company with Elon Musk serving as its chief executive officer. The company's stated mission is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy, reflected in its combined focus on electric drivetrains, battery technology, renewable energy products and software.

Tesla's automotive business includes a lineup of battery‑electric vehicles and related services.

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