Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Sets New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $473.85 and last traded at $473.85, with a volume of 5531798 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $463.02.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on TSLA. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Tesla from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $230.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $272.06.

Tesla Trading Down 8.3 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $314.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $252.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 120.58, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total transaction of $35,254,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,903,716. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total transaction of $975,191.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 522,886 shares of company stock worth $171,393,831 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 1,248.9% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $52,124,000 after buying an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 59.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $30,593,000 after purchasing an additional 43,685 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $80,944,000 after buying an additional 9,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 1.2% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $37,801,000 after buying an additional 1,741 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.