Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 5.6% – Should You Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price dropped 5.6% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $373.40 and last traded at $381.32. Approximately 50,006,608 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 94,854,445 shares. The stock had previously closed at $403.84.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TSLA. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, KGI Securities upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $275.75.

Tesla Trading Down 6.9 %

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’s fifty day simple moving average is $357.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $270.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total transaction of $35,254,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,903,716. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total transaction of $975,191.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 514,886 shares of company stock valued at $169,393,831. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SK Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at $504,000. SMART Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the third quarter worth approximately $208,000. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 3,804 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $995,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Oriental Harbor Investment Fund acquired a new stake in Tesla in the 3rd quarter valued at $14,700,000. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its holdings in Tesla by 23.3% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 8,200 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,145,000 after buying an additional 1,548 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.