Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 0.9% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) dropped 0.9% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $461.11 and last traded at $475.45. Approximately 32,665,536 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 94,672,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $479.86.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TSLA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Mizuho upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Tesla currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $272.06.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 119.50, a P/E/G ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $318.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $254.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. Tesla’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total value of $975,191.26. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total value of $34,602,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,868,508. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 522,886 shares of company stock valued at $171,393,831 in the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Connable Office Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 12,872 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,368,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. grew its holdings in Tesla by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 908 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Holistic Financial Partners raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 4,055 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,061,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc now owns 3,058 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $800,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altman Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 0.4% in the third quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 10,754 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,814,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.