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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on TSLA. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Benchmark initiated coverage on Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $475.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Tesla from $440.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $321.12.

Tesla Stock Up 3.9 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $344.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $320.61. The company has a market capitalization of $752.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 114.72, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’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 owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 over the last three months. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.5% in 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 buying an additional 3,571,793 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Tesla by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $24,566,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings 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 worth $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.