Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target Cut to $450.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price target dropped by Piper Sandler from $500.00 to $450.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price indicates a potential upside of 90.79% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on TSLA. Glj Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $404.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday. Roth Capital raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Benchmark started coverage on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $475.00 target price for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $319.56.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $235.86 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $758.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $341.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $320.02. Tesla has a one year low of $138.80 and a one year high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 over the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 79.5% during the fourth 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 period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Tesla by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. GS Investments Inc. raised its stake in Tesla by 193.3% during the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. 66.20% of the stock is 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.