Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Receives “Sell” Rating from UBS Group

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “sell” rating reiterated by equities researchers at UBS Group in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on TSLA. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Roth Capital set a $505.00 price target on Tesla and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $510.00 target price on Tesla and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $300.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $450.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and eleven have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $391.08.

Tesla Stock Performance

Tesla stock traded down $11.57 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $434.34. 22,046,996 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 100,671,047. Tesla has a 12 month low of $214.25 and a 12 month high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $419.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $353.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 286.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 2.06.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The company had revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. Tesla’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. 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, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total value of $7,275,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,314,500. This represents a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total transaction of $918,302.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,473,057.28. The trade was a 20.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 202,606 shares of company stock worth $75,588,902. 19.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Tesla by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,390,681 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $79,856,764,000 after purchasing an additional 4,502,976 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 64,767,993 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $20,480,477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,269,304 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth $11,839,824,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Tesla by 322.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,590,525 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,891,201,000 after buying an additional 20,291,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Tesla by 5.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 20,225,098 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,424,705,000 after buying an additional 1,134,678 shares in the last quarter. 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.