Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) saw a significant decrease in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 67,380,000 shares, a decrease of 16.6% from the December 31st total of 80,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 92,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.37, for a total value of $2,402,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,548,461.84. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’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 owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,868,508. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 553,386 shares of company stock worth $196,305,796 over the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 1,248.9% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $52,124,000 after acquiring an additional 184,459 shares during the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management increased its stake in Tesla by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Tesla by 59.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $30,593,000 after buying an additional 43,685 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in Tesla by 3.3% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $80,944,000 after buying an additional 9,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $37,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on TSLA shares. New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Phillip Securities lowered Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays upped their price target on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Tesla from $480.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $318.31.

Tesla Price Performance

NASDAQ TSLA traded up $4.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $404.60. 83,239,854 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 66,449,784. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $404.22 and a 200-day moving average of $299.05. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 198.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 2.30. Tesla has a one year low of $138.80 and a one year high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.54% and a net margin of 7.26%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.