Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 2.2% – Here’s Why

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price traded down 2.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $344.81 and last traded at $346.64. 19,923,669 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 73,747,266 shares. The stock had previously closed at $354.40.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TSLA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Glj Research reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $24.86 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Tesla from $351.00 to $373.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $315.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $319.57.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 165.59, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $400.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $313.18.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total value of $27,590,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,463,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,274,741.40. This trade represents a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 523,386 shares of company stock worth $195,995,200 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Tesla by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after buying an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $24,566,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Tesla by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares during 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.