UBS Group Trims Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Target Price to $147.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price target lowered by equities researchers at UBS Group from $160.00 to $147.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential downside of 8.59% from the company’s current price.

TSLA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Tesla from $196.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Tesla from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Tesla from $190.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on Tesla from $225.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $122.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $186.81.

Tesla Price Performance

TSLA stock traded up $16.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $160.81. 137,792,797 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 102,388,695. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $209.24. The company has a market cap of $512.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 2.39. Tesla has a one year low of $138.80 and a one year high of $299.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 16.62% and a net margin of 15.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Tesla will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total transaction of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,950. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total value of $18,247,369.38. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,950. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.44, for a total transaction of $16,439,605.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,631,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 20.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,806,372 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $57,102,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,866,361 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $7,546,823,000 after acquiring an additional 2,177,397 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,040,734 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,266,572,000 after acquiring an additional 269,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Tesla by 3.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 27,542,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,891,765,000 after acquiring an additional 909,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.