Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 1.8% – Should You Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price traded down 1.8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $390.65 and last traded at $390.86. 14,591,859 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 70,774,664 shares. The stock had previously closed at $398.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Glj Research reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $24.86 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Tesla from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Guggenheim reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $313.84.

Tesla Trading Down 2.2 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $401.04 and a 200 day moving average of $296.63.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total value of $35,339,911.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,727,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 617,886 shares of company stock valued at $212,451,751 over the last quarter. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Clean Yield Group raised its holdings in shares of 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. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. M&R Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 263.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Finley Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at about $64,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently 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.