Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Given Hold (C) Rating at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Tesla's stock has been given a "hold (c)" rating by Weiss Ratings, reaffirming a cautious outlook despite varying ratings from other analysts.
• The company recently reported earnings of $0.40 per share, missing analysts' expectations of $0.43, and showed a year-over-year revenue decline of 11.8%.
• Insider trading activity has been noted, with significant sales by executives including Director James R. Murdoch and CFO Vaibhav Taneja, indicating a potential decrease in insider confidence.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c)" rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report released on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Sunday, July 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $355.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Tesla from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $548.00 in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, UBS Group set a $247.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and eight have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $345.70.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA traded up $5.60 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $438.69. 70,905,630 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 104,184,600. Tesla has a 12 month low of $212.11 and a 12 month high of $488.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 253.58, a PEG ratio of 15.92 and a beta of 2.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $371.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $325.56.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. 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 company earned $0.52 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.68, for a total transaction of $25,360,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 637,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $269,260,263.08. This trade represents a 8.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,473,057.28. This trade represents a 20.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,390,681 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $79,856,764,000 after acquiring an additional 4,502,976 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 64,767,993 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $20,480,477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269,304 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at $11,839,824,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Tesla by 322.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,590,525 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $6,891,201,000 after acquiring an additional 20,291,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Tesla by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 20,225,098 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $6,424,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134,678 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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