Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 0.3% – Here’s Why

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price was down 0.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $413.70 and last traded at $416.07. Approximately 25,868,197 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 94,643,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $417.41.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TSLA. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Tesla from $287.00 to $411.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Tesla from $280.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $272.06.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.20, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $349.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $268.31.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,868,508. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 514,886 shares of company stock worth $169,393,831. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the second quarter worth $26,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 168.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Clean Yield Group boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 60.0% in the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.