Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Coverage Initiated at Melius Research

Key Points

• Melius Research has upgraded Tesla's stock rating to a "strong-buy," indicating increased confidence in the company's future performance.
• Multiple analysts have set various price targets for Tesla, with Morgan Stanley at $410, JPMorgan at $150, and Stifel Nicolaus at $483, reflecting a range of optimistic views on the stock.
• Despite the upgrades, Tesla's shares recently opened at $429.24, down 1.5%, and the company reported a decline in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.

Analysts at Melius Research started coverage on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set a "buy" rating and a $520.00 price target on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Melius Research's price target would suggest a potential upside of 21.14% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on TSLA. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Tesla from $374.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. CICC Research upped their price objective on Tesla from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Dbs Bank upped their price objective on Tesla from $300.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Tesla from $235.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and eight have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Tesla has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $363.03.

Tesla Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $429.24 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $380.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $330.17. Tesla has a 12-month low of $212.11 and a 12-month high of $488.54. The company has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 248.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 15.71 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.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.03). Tesla had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 6.54%.The company had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,314,500. This represents a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $3,473,057.28. This represents a 20.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 202,606 shares of company stock worth $75,588,902 in the last ninety days. 19.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 1.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,390,681 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $79,856,764,000 after acquiring an additional 4,502,976 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 2.0% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Tesla in the second quarter worth $11,839,824,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 322.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,590,525 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $6,891,201,000 after acquiring an additional 20,291,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Tesla by 5.9% in the second 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 in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.