Tesla’s (TSLA) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

TSLA has been the topic of several other reports. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $286.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. New Street Research cut Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Tesla from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $295.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $214.18.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA opened at $213.65 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $228.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.91. Tesla has a 1 year low of $138.80 and a 1 year high of $271.00. The company has a market capitalization of $682.53 billion, a PE ratio of 60.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 2.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.10). Tesla had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 10.41%. The business had revenue of $25.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Tesla will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Tesla news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,967,479.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,258,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Tesla by 35,611.2% during 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 period. Clean Energy Transition LLP increased its holdings in 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 valued at $953,505,000 after purchasing an additional 6,764,300 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 21,816.0% in the second 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,602,120 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $41,064,917,000 after acquiring an additional 3,795,748 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 236.8% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,104,010 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $416,341,000 after purchasing an additional 1,479,378 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is 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.