Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 3.7% – Should You Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) traded up 3.7% on Monday . The company traded as high as $449.67 and last traded at $445.23. 75,888,013 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average session volume of 101,001,594 shares. The stock had previously closed at $429.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Tesla from $115.00 to $150.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Tesla from $490.00 to $482.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Mizuho increased their target price on Tesla from $450.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Tesla from $440.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Tesla from $341.00 to $471.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and eleven have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $391.08.

Tesla Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 296.82, a P/E/G ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 2.06. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $420.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $356.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Tesla had a net margin of 5.51% and a return on equity of 6.61%. The company had revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Tesla’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total transaction of $42,034,800.00. Following the sale, the director owned 697,031 shares in the company, valued at $244,162,988.99. This trade represents a 14.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total transaction of $7,275,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at $17,314,500. This trade represents a 29.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 202,606 shares of company stock worth $75,588,902 in the last three months. 19.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Chapman Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Tesla during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. increased its position in shares of Tesla by 59.7% during the 1st quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 107 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter worth $29,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Tesla during the second quarter worth $30,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.