Piper Sandler Cuts Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Price Target to $450.00

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) had its price target reduced by Piper Sandler from $500.00 to $450.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the electric vehicle producer’s stock.

TSLA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Glj Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.93.

Tesla Stock Performance

TSLA opened at $248.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $799.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.92, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $335.19 and a 200 day moving average of $320.44. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 75.6% in 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 in the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. boosted its holdings 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 last quarter. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. 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.