Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 1.9% – Still a Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price rose 1.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $250.64 and last traded at $245.21. Approximately 37,907,842 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 87,396,945 shares. The stock had previously closed at $240.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TSLA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Roth Mkm upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $404.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $325.65.

Tesla Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $354.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $318.49. 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 company has a market cap of $807.02 billion, a PE ratio of 122.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,802. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Tesla by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,098,717 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $287,457,000 after acquiring an additional 29,669 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Tesla by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,650,393 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $955,052,000 after acquiring an additional 194,796 shares during the period. United Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at about $287,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Tesla by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,980 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,303,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at about $610,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.