Dbs Bank Upgrades Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Hold

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Dbs Bank to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

TSLA has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $307.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Tesla from $425.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. CICC Research raised their price target on Tesla from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and eleven have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $391.08.

Tesla Stock Performance

TSLA stock traded down $16.39 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $429.52. The company had a trading volume of 102,981,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 101,117,258. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 286.35, a P/E/G ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 2.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $419.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $353.32. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $214.25 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $28.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.98 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other Tesla 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 transaction of $918,302.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,473,057.28. This represents a 20.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total transaction of $7,275,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 47,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,314,500. The trade was a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902 in the last three months. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Chapman Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 59.7% in the 1st quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 107 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.