Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 5.7% on Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were down 5.7% during mid-day trading on Monday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $515.00 to $430.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $236.80 and last traded at $235.71. Approximately 36,435,048 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 87,576,094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $249.98.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on TSLA. Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $323.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total value of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 over the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Members Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter worth $359,000. Tableaux LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $681,000. Keystone Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $246,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $379,613,000. Finally, PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $10,823,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Trading Down 5.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $758.63 billion, a PE ratio of 115.91, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $351.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $320.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

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.