Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 1.3% – Time to Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares traded down 1.3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $377.29 and last traded at $389.99. 28,074,766 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 77,157,867 shares. The stock had previously closed at $394.94.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TSLA. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $310.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $295.69.

Tesla Stock Down 0.1 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $376.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.25. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 108.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.30.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Tesla’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total transaction of $15,138,915.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $391,164,540.60. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.76, for a total transaction of $1,007,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,442,856.32. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 621,886 shares of company stock worth $213,451,751 over the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

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