Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 7.9% After Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 7.9% during trading on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $320.00 to $275.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $236.00 and last traded at $246.21. 66,027,949 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 94,170,050 shares. The stock had previously closed at $267.28.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Tesla from $430.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $312.65.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’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 value of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 1,248.9% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $52,124,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares during the period. Destination Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 12.1% during the third quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,296,000 after buying an additional 1,359 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 126.7% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 1,594 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $80,944,000 after buying an additional 9,919 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Tesla by 52.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,344,526 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,921,548,000 after acquiring an additional 2,511,488 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Trading Down 8.6 %

The stock has a market cap of $785.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $309.32 and a 200-day moving average of $322.81.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share 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, research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.