Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 1.7% – What’s Next?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price traded down 1.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $350.03 and last traded at $349.73. 28,410,360 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 76,066,023 shares. The stock had previously closed at $355.94.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TSLA. Roth Mkm raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Phillip Securities lowered Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $326.50.

Tesla Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $406.31 and its 200 day moving average is $307.64. The company has a market cap of $1.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 174.43, 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. As a group, research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total value of $35,254,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,903,716. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.06, for a total value of $39,792,803.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,095,100. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 523,386 shares of company stock valued at $195,995,200. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 6,889 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,782,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lifted its stake in Tesla by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 72,965 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $29,466,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 69,033 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $27,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917 shares in the last quarter. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $665,000. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $915,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.