Tesla’s (TSLA) Sell Rating Reaffirmed at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reiterated their sell rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $175.00 price objective on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Roth Capital raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $249.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $313.84.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $389.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Tesla has a 1-year low of $138.80 and a 1-year high of $488.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $401.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $296.63.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value of $15,138,915.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $391,164,540.60. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total transaction of $35,339,911.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,727,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 617,886 shares of company stock worth $212,451,751 in the last quarter. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Hengehold Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 6,990 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,823,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Acropolis Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,950,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Prospect Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 7,500 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,029,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.