Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 0.1% – Still a Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price was up 0.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $359.10 and last traded at $356.03. Approximately 23,358,698 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 75,698,430 shares. The stock had previously closed at $355.84.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on TSLA shares. New Street Research raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. KGI Securities raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $326.50.

Tesla Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $405.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $309.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 173.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.43, for a total value of $2,481,010.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,226,491.76. The trade was a 6.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.06, for a total value of $39,792,803.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,095,100. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 523,386 shares of company stock worth $195,995,200 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Tesla by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571,793 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,655,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Tesla by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $11,541,592,000 after buying an additional 5,075,418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.