Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 1.3% – Here’s Why

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price fell 1.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $377.29 and last traded at $389.99. 28,074,766 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 77,157,867 shares. The stock had previously closed at $394.94.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on TSLA. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and issued a $124.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $295.69.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $376.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 108.15, a P/E/G ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.30.

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

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.76, for a total value of $1,007,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,442,856.32. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 621,886 shares of company stock valued at $213,451,751 over the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Clean Yield Group raised its position in Tesla by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Tesla by 168.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other 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.