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

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

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $404.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on 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 assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $318.93.

Tesla Stock Performance

TSLA opened at $248.71 on Thursday. Tesla has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54. The stock has a market cap 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $335.19 and a 200-day moving average of $320.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 over the last quarter. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after buying an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 8,637,195 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 4,963.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,834,707 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,356,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,719,466 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by 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.