The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by The Goldman Sachs Group from $315.00 to $285.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays decreased their price target on Tesla from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Tesla from $425.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas set a $137.00 price objective on shares of Tesla and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $300.19.

Tesla Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of TSLA stock traded up $3.39 on Friday, hitting $316.90. 77,759,201 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 99,510,657. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.00. Tesla has a twelve month low of $182.00 and a twelve month high of $488.54. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $322.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $319.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 174.12, a PEG ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 2.39.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $19.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 6.66% and a return on equity of 9.02%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, Director Ira Matthew Ehrenpreis sold 477,572 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $357.30, for a total value of $170,636,475.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 855,394 shares of the company's stock, valued at $305,632,276.20. This trade represents a 35.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total transaction of $4,857,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 67,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,889,556. This represents a 18.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 835,509 shares of company stock worth $279,420,485 over the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $14,420,248,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 322.1% during 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 buying an additional 20,291,139 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Tesla in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,247,619,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 27,378.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,812,316 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $2,542,960,000 after acquiring an additional 9,776,607 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

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.