Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Hold” Rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $365.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Phillip Securities cut Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $515.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $322.29.

Tesla Trading Down 3.4 %

TSLA stock opened at $361.62 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla has a 52-week low of $138.80 and a 52-week high of $488.54. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $408.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $303.93. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 177.27, a PEG ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total value of $35,339,911.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $26,727,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $383.11, for a total value of $2,681,770.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,745,581.15. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 560,776 shares of company stock valued at $203,744,862. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Parkworth Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in Tesla by 130.2% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 122 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.