Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 3.6% – What’s Next?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price rose 3.6% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $481.77 and last traded at $475.31. Approximately 113,407,772 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 15% from the average daily volume of 98,741,008 shares. The stock had previously closed at $458.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on TSLA shares. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $300.00 price objective on Tesla in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $425.00 price target on Tesla and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, New Street Research raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $465.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and nine have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $399.33.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 316.87, a PEG ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 1.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $435.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $376.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Tesla had a net margin of 5.51% and a return on equity of 6.61%. The business had revenue of $28.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.98 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 56,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.66, for a total value of $25,606,501.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,391,615 shares in the company, valued at $627,145,215.90. This trade represents a 3.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,637 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.93, for a total transaction of $1,170,643.41. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,107,145.01. The trade was a 16.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Chapman Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Tesla in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 59.7% in the 1st quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 107 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.