Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 3.2% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 3.2% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $234.13 and last traded at $232.58. Approximately 36,974,477 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 90,591,108 shares. The stock had previously closed at $225.31.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSLA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Tesla from $500.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen raised Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $388.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Benchmark started coverage on Tesla in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $475.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $318.93.

Tesla Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $769.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $338.11 and a 200 day moving average of $319.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS 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, sell-side analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,098,717 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $287,457,000 after buying an additional 29,669 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,650,393 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $955,052,000 after buying an additional 194,796 shares during the last quarter. United Bank purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $287,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $497,000. Finally, Strategy Asset Managers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $482,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.