Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 3.2% – Here’s Why

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) were down 3.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $412.66 and last traded at $414.59. Approximately 27,683,978 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 76,062,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $428.22.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TSLA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, November 18th. KGI Securities upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Tesla Trading Up 3.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.85, a PEG ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $387.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $286.58.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value of $15,138,915.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $391,164,540.60. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 621,886 shares of company stock valued at $213,451,751 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Clean Yield Group grew its holdings in Tesla by 60.0% during the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Tesla by 168.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 263.2% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.