Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 1.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Friday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $227.00 to $224.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $195.11 and last traded at $195.52. Approximately 21,308,727 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 99,777,867 shares. The stock had previously closed at $198.84.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $286.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, July 26th. China Renaissance upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Bank of America raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $204.21.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.21, for a total value of $113,236.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 65,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,350,652.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Tesla news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.21, for a total transaction of $113,236.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 65,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,350,652.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 66,364 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.96, for a total value of $14,597,425.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $18,696,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 25.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,602,120 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $41,064,917,000 after purchasing an additional 3,795,748 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,844,757,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,155,878 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,765,933,000 after acquiring an additional 458,804 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Tesla by 12.9% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 9,849,425 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,731,430,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125,329 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 21,816.0% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 5,902,416 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,167,970,000 after acquiring an additional 5,875,484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $211.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $190.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $633.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 2.31.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $25.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.38 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 10.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.79 EPS for the current year.

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.