Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 7.4% – Should You Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price shot up 7.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $462.78 and last traded at $462.28. 59,551,754 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 95,172,773 shares. The stock had previously closed at $430.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on TSLA. Glj Research reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $24.86 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Tesla from $310.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Phillip Securities lowered Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $272.06.

Tesla Stock Up 7.4 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 126.65, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $331.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $260.84.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS 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 business had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,258,000. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,868,508. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 514,886 shares of company stock valued at $169,393,831 over the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in Tesla by 348.7% during the second quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 4,491 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 3,490 shares during the period. Kelleher Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 8.4% in the second quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors now owns 4,627 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $916,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 578,873 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $114,547,000 after purchasing an additional 14,019 shares during the period. American Capital Advisory LLC raised its position in Tesla by 157.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 1,080 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the period. Finally, F M Investments LLC bought a new stake in Tesla in the second quarter worth about $5,927,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.