Cantor Fitzgerald Upgrades Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Overweight

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $425.00 target price on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective points to a potential upside of 88.63% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Oppenheimer reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen raised Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $388.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Cowen raised Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $321.12.

Tesla Trading Down 5.3 %

NASDAQ TSLA opened at $225.31 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $344.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $320.61. Tesla has a 12 month low of $138.80 and a 12 month high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $724.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.45, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total value of $718,046.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at $7,242,273.50. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 193.3% in the 4th quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.