Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $249.00 to $313.00. The stock had previously closed at $320.72, but opened at $340.73. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla shares last traded at $340.84, with a volume of 29,883,541 shares trading hands.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on TSLA. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $295.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, KGI Securities raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $230.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at $14,967,479.07. This trade represents a 0.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total value of $35,339,911.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,727,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 301,187 shares of company stock valued at $92,956,692. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 35,611.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 11,054,391 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,892,160,000 after acquiring an additional 11,023,436 shares during the last quarter. Clean Energy Transition LLP grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 347.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clean Energy Transition LLP now owns 4,818,600 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $953,505,000 after acquiring an additional 6,764,300 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 21,816.0% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 5,902,416 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,167,970,000 after buying an additional 5,875,484 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 13.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,377,970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Tesla by 52.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,344,526 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,921,548,000 after buying an additional 2,511,488 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $257.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $223.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 94.79, a P/E/G ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 2.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.