Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 0.4% – Here’s What Happened

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) traded down 0.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $271.28 and last traded at $277.30. 63,942,860 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 91,569,636 shares. The stock had previously closed at $278.39.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, March 3rd. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Tesla from $165.00 to $130.00 and set a “reduce” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $388.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Benchmark began coverage on Tesla in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $475.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $319.12.

Tesla Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $327.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $321.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $882.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 134.39, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. On average, analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 36,790.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,497,526,000 after purchasing an additional 8,637,195 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Tesla by 4,963.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,834,707 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,356,288,000 after buying an additional 5,719,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Tesla by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $11,541,592,000 after buying an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.