Wedbush Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) had its target price increased by Wedbush from $515.00 to $550.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the electric vehicle producer's stock. Wedbush's price objective points to a potential upside of 32.50% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on TSLA. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Guggenheim increased their price target on Tesla from $156.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Bank of America cut shares of Tesla from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $400.00 to $490.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $309.48.

Tesla Stock Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:TSLA traded down $8.96 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $415.11. The stock had a trading volume of 60,602,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 80,492,234. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 113.73, a PEG ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 2.30. The business's 50 day moving average is $393.38 and its 200 day moving average is $291.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. Tesla's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,258,000. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value of $15,138,915.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,563,220 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $391,164,540.60. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 621,886 shares of company stock worth $213,451,751. Insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Clean Yield Group boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 60.0% during the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 168.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Tesla by 263.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.