Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 9.5% – Should You Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares traded up 9.5% on Monday . The company traded as high as $274.72 and last traded at $272.31. 68,876,539 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 24% from the average session volume of 91,203,451 shares. The stock had previously closed at $248.71.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TSLA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Glj Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Roth Mkm raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Benchmark started coverage on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $475.00 price objective on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $318.93.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $926.20 billion, a PE ratio of 141.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $330.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $322.04.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. Research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $2,222,802. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 over the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Avant Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $519,000. Fire Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,424,000. Fulcrum Equity Management lifted its position in Tesla by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 1,103 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. M1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $863,000. Finally, Chancellor Financial Group WB LP bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth approximately $577,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Company Profile

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.