Tesla's (TSLA) "Overweight" Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has reiterated Tesla's stock rating as "overweight" with a price target of $410.00, indicating a potential downside of 7.11% from its current price of $441.39.
• Recent analysts' ratings have varied significantly; Robert W. Baird upgraded Tesla to "outperform" with a new target of $548.00, while UBS Group maintained a "sell" rating.
• Tesla's quarterly earnings showed a disappointing EPS of $0.40, below the expected $0.43, with a year-over-year revenue decline of 11.8%.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reiterated by analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $410.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target indicates a potential downside of 7.11% from the company's current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on TSLA. Robert W. Baird upgraded Tesla from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $320.00 to $548.00 in a research report on Friday, September 19th. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Sunday, July 27th. Finally, CICC Research upped their target price on Tesla from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and nine have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $337.15.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of Tesla stock traded down $18.07 during trading on Thursday, reaching $441.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 107,071,842 shares, compared to its average volume of 102,861,641. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 254.71, a P/E/G ratio of 15.46 and a beta of 2.08. Tesla has a 52 week low of $212.11 and a 52 week high of $488.54. The business's 50-day moving average price is $359.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $318.62.

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 (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 637,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at $269,260,263.08. This trade represents a 8.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 sold a total of 208,606 shares of company stock valued at $77,360,462 in the last ninety days. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Chapman Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Tesla during the second quarter worth about $26,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Tesla during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 86.3% during the first quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 95 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. First PREMIER Bank grew its holdings in Tesla by 79.2% during the 1st quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Tesla during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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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