Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 1.8% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) were down 1.8% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $386.50 and last traded at $390.10. Approximately 17,278,368 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 72,147,977 shares. The stock had previously closed at $397.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TSLA. Wedbush boosted their target price on Tesla from $515.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. KGI Securities raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and set a $124.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $318.31.

Tesla Stock Up 2.9 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $401.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $297.28. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.67, a P/E/G ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.76, for a total transaction of $1,007,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,442,856.32. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total value of $34,602,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,868,508. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 617,886 shares of company stock worth $212,451,751. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 35,611.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 11,054,391 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,892,160,000 after buying an additional 11,023,436 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 194.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,486,739 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,215,765,000 after purchasing an additional 3,624,910 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,377,970,000 after buying an additional 2,946,763 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Tesla by 52.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,344,526 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,921,548,000 after buying an additional 2,511,488 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by 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.