Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 4.4% – Should You Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price rose 4.4% on Friday . The company traded as high as $435.00 and last traded at $432.06. Approximately 33,617,777 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 75,602,938 shares. The stock had previously closed at $413.82.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $299.33.

Tesla Trading Up 6.0 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $1.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 120.16, a P/E/G ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $385.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $285.69.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,868,508. The trade was 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 worth $213,451,751 in the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 1,248.9% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $52,124,000 after buying an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management increased its holdings in Tesla by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Tesla by 59.2% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $30,593,000 after acquiring an additional 43,685 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 3.3% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $80,944,000 after purchasing an additional 9,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Tesla by 1.2% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $37,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.