Tesla's (TSLA) "Hold" Rating Reaffirmed at China Renaissance

Key Points

• Tesla's stock has maintained a "hold" rating from China Renaissance, with a price target of $349.00, indicating a potential upside of 14.31% from the company's previous close.
• Various research firms have issued conflicting ratings, with the consensus rating still at "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.75 among analysts.
• In recent insider activity, Tesla's CFO sold 6,000 shares, representing a 75.47% decrease in their position, while total insider sales over the last 90 days amounted to approximately $279.4 million.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reissued by China Renaissance in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $349.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer's stock. China Renaissance's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 6.43% from the stock's previous close.

TSLA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. HSBC reaffirmed a "reduce" rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Glj Research reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $305.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $302.75.

Tesla Stock Up 3.8%

NASDAQ TSLA traded up $11.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $327.91. The stock had a trading volume of 74,598,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 108,238,672. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $324.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $313.53. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 189.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 2.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.55. Tesla has a 1 year low of $182.00 and a 1 year high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.03). The firm 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 quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 91,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $357.39, for a total transaction of $32,732,635.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,463,220 shares in the company, valued at $522,940,195.80. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 5,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,777,200. The trade was a 25.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 835,509 shares of company stock valued at $279,420,485 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 86.3% during the 1st quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 95 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 79.2% in the first quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 250.0% in the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 105 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI acquired a new position in Tesla during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.