Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 5.1% – Still a Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shot up 5.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $251.69 and last traded at $242.45. 61,405,243 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 86,045,180 shares. The stock had previously closed at $230.58.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TSLA. New Street Research raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $315.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $325.81.

Tesla Trading Up 8.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $360.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $319.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $802.46 billion, a PE ratio of 122.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.61, for a total value of $33,673,167.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $25,466,850. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 422,452 shares of company stock valued at $153,659,530. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $24,566,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in 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. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.