Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 4% – Should You Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price was down 4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $338.20 and last traded at $338.59. Approximately 95,890,899 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 0% from the average daily volume of 95,798,258 shares. The stock had previously closed at $352.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Tesla from $265.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. William Blair assumed coverage on Tesla in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Phillip Securities lowered Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $295.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $231.06.

Tesla Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $266.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $227.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 92.76, a P/E/G ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84.

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

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. The trade was a 0.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total transaction of $35,339,911.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $26,727,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 301,187 shares of company stock worth $92,956,692 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,356,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $15,469,792,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,589 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,473,008,000 after acquiring an additional 828,308 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 13.7% during the 3rd 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 valued at $6,377,970,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,763 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Tesla by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,545,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $4,328,884,000 after acquiring an additional 301,968 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,201,212 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,192,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,093 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.