Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 0.9% – Here’s Why

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) traded down 0.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $367.28 and last traded at $370.83. 27,872,957 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 72,731,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $374.32.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on TSLA. Roth Mkm raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Roth Capital raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. KGI Securities raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $322.29.

Tesla Stock Performance

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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $407.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $302.76. The company has a market cap of $1.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 177.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 2.34.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the 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 $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 664,776 shares of company stock worth $239,746,862 over the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

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