Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Tesla, Inc. has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from analysts, with 41 rating firms providing insights, including nine sell recommendations and 18 buy recommendations.
• Shares of Tesla opened at $426.07 and have a market cap of $1.42 trillion, with a one-year price range between $212.11 and $488.54.
• Recently sold shares by insiders include 20,000 by SVP Xiaotong Zhu and 60,000 by Director James R. Murdoch, both indicating a decrease in their ownership percentages.

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Hold" from the forty-one analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $317.6985.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on TSLA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Tesla from $303.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Tesla from $390.00 to $375.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $475.00 price target (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Tesla from $305.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, China Renaissance restated a "hold" rating and set a $349.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday, July 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was 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 directly owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,314,500. The trade was a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.68, for a total value of $25,360,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 637,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $269,260,263.08. The trade was a 8.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 208,606 shares of company stock worth $77,360,462. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Base Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Base Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. WT Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 178.7% in the 2nd quarter. WT Wealth Management now owns 9,313 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,958,000 after purchasing an additional 5,972 shares during the last quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc. now owns 12,232 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Finally, SevenBridge Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 1,279 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Trading Up 2.2%

TSLA stock traded up $9.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $426.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 92,721,496 shares, compared to its average volume of 86,324,392. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $340.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $308.35. Tesla has a 1 year low of $212.11 and a 1 year high of $488.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 246.28, a PEG ratio of 14.86 and a beta of 2.06.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 6.54%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

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.