Wedbush Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by stock analysts at Wedbush in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $600.00 target price on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 34.87% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. China Renaissance lifted their price target on Tesla from $349.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Dbs Bank lifted their price objective on Tesla from $300.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. CICC Research increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $307.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and eleven have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $391.08.

Tesla Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of TSLA stock traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $444.86. 14,773,391 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 100,696,266. The stock has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 296.56, a P/E/G ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 2.08. Tesla has a 52-week low of $214.25 and a 52-week high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $414.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $351.91.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The firm had revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total value of $7,275,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,314,500. This trade represents a 29.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total value of $918,302.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,856 shares in the company, valued at $3,473,057.28. This trade represents a 20.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902 over the last quarter. 19.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. HORAN Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter valued at $539,000. Linscomb Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 2.7% during the third quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 4,239 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,885,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC now owns 3,042 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,353,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 43,269 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $19,243,000 after acquiring an additional 5,066 shares during the period. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 201.0% in the 3rd quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 623 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently 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.