Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 0.6% Higher – Still a Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price traded up 0.6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $402.50 and last traded at $396.72. 27,511,410 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 78,426,039 shares. The stock had previously closed at $394.36.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $310.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Glj Research reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $24.86 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $280.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given 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 a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.69.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a market cap 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. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $373.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $279.12.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,258,000. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 621,886 shares of company stock valued at $213,451,751. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,356,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $15,469,792,000 after buying an additional 1,022,589 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 3.5% in the third 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 last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 13.7% in the third 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Tesla by 1.9% during 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 raised its holdings in Tesla by 11.9% during 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 owned by institutional investors.

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.