Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 1.8% – Here’s Why

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) dropped 1.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $335.57 and last traded at $343.70. Approximately 55,251,992 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 95,237,930 shares. The stock had previously closed at $350.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSLA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Tesla from $274.00 to $258.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $228.24.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $998.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.07, a P/E/G ratio of 10.67 and a beta of 2.29. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.94.

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

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. The trade was a 0.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,868,508. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. The trade was a 0.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 188,797 shares of company stock worth $57,616,781. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Tesla by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,602,120 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $41,064,917,000 after buying an additional 3,795,748 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,473,008,000 after buying 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 buying an additional 2,946,763 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,545,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $4,328,884,000 after purchasing an additional 301,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 11.9% in the 3rd 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 during 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.