Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 0.7% – What’s Next?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price traded down 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $410.35 and last traded at $412.36. 20,793,147 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 76,039,648 shares. The stock had previously closed at $415.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $309.48.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 112.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 2.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $395.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $292.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced 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 company 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%. Tesla’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total transaction of $15,138,915.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $391,164,540.60. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 617,886 shares of company stock valued at $212,451,751 in the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hengehold Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI lifted its holdings in Tesla by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 6,990 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,823,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Tesla by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,950,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospect Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 7,500 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,029,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.