Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Given Hold Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on TSLA. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Tesla from $474.00 to $455.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. New Street Research raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $283.24.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ TSLA opened at $251.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $807.56 billion, a PE ratio of 123.07, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $267.29 and a 200-day moving average of $322.05. Tesla has a 52-week low of $157.51 and a 52-week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,737,500. This represents a 12.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 374,228 shares of company stock valued at $123,791,123. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 27,378.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,812,316 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,542,960,000 after purchasing an additional 9,776,607 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 36,790.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,497,526,000 after purchasing an additional 8,637,195 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 4,963.0% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,834,707 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,356,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,719,466 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.