Tesla (TSLA) stock splits, gets new target at $360 a share

Tesla’s (TSLA) stock has now officially split 3-for-1 after closing at $891 per share yesterday, which means it should start trading at around $297 per share this morning.

But now it already got its first price target update post-split at $360 a share.

Tesla’s stock is an important indicator of the move to electrification since Tesla is the largest automaker only selling electric vehicles by a wide margin.

The rise in its stock price has also encouraged other automakers to accelerate their electric vehicle plans since it made it clear that investors were looking for aggressive electrification.

Now Tesla’s stock price rising has led to the automaker going for another stock split – it’s second in two years.

Tesla shareholders approved the 3-for-1 stock split earlier this month and it comes into effect today.

The shareholders will receive two additional stock dividends for every share they own, and the stock price will start trading this morning for one-third of the price it closed yesterday, which was $891 a share.

That should result in Tesla’s stock (TSLA) trading for about $297 when the markets open this morning.

Tesla (TSLA) price target increase

It wasn’t long for Wall Street to adjust to the stock split with the first new price target.

Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush and one of the top Wall Street analysts covering Tesla (ranked #557 out of 8,009 analysts on TipRanks), announced that he is increasing his price target on Tesla from $333 a share post-stock split to $360 a share.

He noted “improved production” out of Gigafactory Shanghai as one of the main reasons for the increase:

In a note to clients, Ives wrote that he believes Tesla can deliver 2 million electric vehicles in 2023, which should put the automaker in a favorable position against increased competition in the EV space:

For 2023 we believe 2 million deliveries potential and massive production capacity will be a significant advantage for Tesla in this EV arms race with competition coming from every angle and geography.

That estimate is actually on the lower side since Tesla has been guiding that it will enter 2023 with a production capacity of 2 million vehicles per year. With increase production capacity at Gigafactory Berlin and Texas, Tesla could deliver significantly more than 2 million vehicles in 2023.