Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 2.8% – Here’s What Happened

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares dropped 2.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $406.31 and last traded at $414.43. Approximately 39,991,064 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 77,552,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $426.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TSLA. Mizuho upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $230.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Bank of America lowered Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $400.00 to $490.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. KGI Securities raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, New Street Research upgraded 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. Nine equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.48.

Tesla Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $395.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $292.13. The company has a market capitalization of $1.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 112.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value of $15,138,915.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,164,540.60. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 617,886 shares of company stock worth $212,451,751 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,356,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $15,469,792,000 after buying an additional 1,022,589 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,473,008,000 after purchasing an additional 828,308 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,377,970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,763 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Tesla by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,545,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $4,328,884,000 after purchasing an additional 301,968 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Tesla by 11.9% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,201,212 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,192,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,093 shares in the last quarter. 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.