Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target Lowered to $307.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) had its target price dropped by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $314.00 to $307.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's price objective suggests a potential upside of 7.74% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on TSLA. Barclays decreased their target price on Tesla from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Oppenheimer reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Tesla from $404.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Tesla from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $287.46.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TSLA traded up $25.44 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $284.95. 166,882,151 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 95,960,657. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $263.98 and a 200 day moving average of $323.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $916.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.68, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. Tesla has a 1-year low of $167.41 and a 1-year high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. The company had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 374,228 shares of company stock worth $123,791,123. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in Tesla by 65.9% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 19,034 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $4,933,000 after acquiring an additional 7,560 shares in the last quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd increased its stake in Tesla by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 13,972 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $3,621,000 after buying an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Sage Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla in the first quarter worth approximately $236,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Tesla during the first quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Keystone Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 160.5% during the first quarter. Keystone Financial Services LLC now owns 1,584 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

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.