Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 1.2% on Insider Selling

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price fell 1.2% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $323.20 and last traded at $324.53. 61,713,865 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 95,501,219 shares. The stock had previously closed at $328.49.

Specifically, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,868,508. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,400,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,761,200. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.37, for a total transaction of $2,402,960.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $31,548,461.84. This trade represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on Tesla from $265.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $300.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $228.24.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $248.48 and a 200 day moving average of $218.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $998.91 billion, a PE ratio of 85.25, a PEG ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 2.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,602,120 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $41,064,917,000 after purchasing an additional 3,795,748 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,473,008,000 after purchasing an additional 828,308 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 13.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,377,970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,763 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Tesla by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,545,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $4,328,884,000 after purchasing an additional 301,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 11.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,201,212 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,192,203,000 after buying an additional 1,294,093 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Company Profile

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.