Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at BNP Paribas Exane

BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an underperform rating and a $307.00 price target on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on TSLA. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Tesla from $400.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Wedbush raised their target price on Tesla from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Tesla from $305.00 to $341.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 price objective (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Industrial Alliance Securities set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and ten have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $363.54.

Tesla Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of TSLA opened at $428.75 on Thursday. Tesla has a 12-month low of $212.11 and a 12-month high of $488.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 247.83, a P/E/G ratio of 15.64 and a beta of 2.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $385.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $332.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 6.54%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.68, for a total value of $25,360,800.00. Following the sale, the director 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 transaction 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total value of $918,302.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,473,057.28. This trade represents a 20.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902. 19.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 0.8% in the third quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 3,118 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. DecisionMap Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Tesla by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. DecisionMap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,126,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.2% in the third quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Intergy Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 0.9% during the third quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,975 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,323,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Security National Bank of SO Dak lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.4% in the third quarter. Security National Bank of SO Dak now owns 1,216 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 28 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.