Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $600.00 target price on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 35.56% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on TSLA. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 price target (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $355.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $375.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $333.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $483.00 price target on shares of Tesla and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and ten have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $363.54.

Tesla Stock Down 1.1%

TSLA stock opened at $442.60 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.55. Tesla has a 1-year low of $212.11 and a 1-year high of $488.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $391.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $336.26. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 255.84, a PEG ratio of 16.08 and a beta of 2.08.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,473,057.28. This represents a 20.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 8.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902 over the last 90 days. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 496,566 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $220,833,000 after acquiring an additional 6,692 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 50,195 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $22,323,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223 shares during the last quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC now owns 16,739 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,444,000 after acquiring an additional 2,396 shares during the last quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla in the 3rd quarter valued at about $253,000. Finally, Wealth Management Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 17,818 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,924,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Company Profile

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.