Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 1.6% – Should You Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares dropped 1.6% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $326.59 and last traded at $332.89. Approximately 57,687,891 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 95,490,797 shares. The stock had previously closed at $338.23.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on TSLA. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays raised their price target on Tesla from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Tesla from $265.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $231.06.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $270.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $229.89. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.20, a PEG ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 2.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total transaction of $35,339,911.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,727,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total transaction of $1,400,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $36,761,200. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 301,187 shares of company stock worth $92,956,692 in the last quarter. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Connable Office Inc. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 12,872 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,368,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 4.4% during the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 908 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Holistic Financial Partners grew its position in Tesla by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 4,055 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Integris Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Integris Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,065 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $804,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc raised its position in Tesla by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc now owns 3,058 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $800,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.