Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 0.2% – Still a Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price shot up 0.2% on Friday . The company traded as high as $418.88 and last traded at $413.29. 21,690,518 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 74,394,078 shares. The stock had previously closed at $412.38.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TSLA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $230.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.48.

Tesla Trading Down 0.6 %

The business’s fifty day moving average is $397.11 and its 200-day moving average is $292.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 112.52, a P/E/G ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Tesla’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 617,886 shares of company stock valued at $212,451,751. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI raised its position in Tesla by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 6,990 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,823,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Acropolis Investment Management LLC raised its position in Tesla by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,136,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Tesla by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,950,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Prospect Financial Services LLC raised its position in Tesla by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 7,500 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,029,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.