Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 2.4% – Here’s Why

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 2.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $348.00 and last traded at $352.03. 20,097,038 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 74,627,320 shares. The stock had previously closed at $360.56.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on TSLA. Bank of America cut Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $400.00 to $490.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Tesla from $480.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Mkm raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $326.50.

Tesla Stock Down 4.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 165.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.34. The business has a fifty day moving average of $400.17 and a 200-day moving average of $312.40.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly 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 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.43, for a total value of $2,481,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,226,491.76. The trade was a 6.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total transaction of $35,254,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,903,716. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 523,386 shares of company stock worth $195,995,200. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Tesla by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 2.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,655,203 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Tesla by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.