Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Short Interest Update

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 67,380,000 shares, a decline of 16.6% from the December 15th total of 80,770,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 92,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Tesla Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of TSLA traded up $12.68 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $426.50. The stock had a trading volume of 94,422,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 80,357,656. Tesla has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 116.85, a P/E/G ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $389.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $288.09.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. Tesla’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Tesla will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 621,886 shares of company stock valued at $213,451,751 in the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Clean Yield Group grew its holdings in Tesla by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 168.8% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Tesla by 263.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on TSLA. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Tesla from $411.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Tesla from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Tesla from $249.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

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.