Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 5.7% on Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price traded down 5.7% during trading on Monday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $515.00 to $430.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $236.80 and last traded at $235.71. 36,435,048 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 87,576,094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $249.98.

TSLA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. New Street Research raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.00.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 value of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, 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 valued at $166,849,043 over the last three months. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 1,248.9% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $52,124,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 126.7% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 1,594 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 59.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $30,593,000 after acquiring an additional 43,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $80,944,000 after acquiring an additional 9,919 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $758.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.91, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $351.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $320.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS 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.