Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 5.1% – What’s Next?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shot up 5.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $251.69 and last traded at $242.45. 61,405,243 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 86,045,180 shares. The stock had previously closed at $230.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on TSLA. New Street Research raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Cowen raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $365.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Roth Capital raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $325.65.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $354.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $318.49. The stock has a market cap of $794.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.13, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. GS Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 193.3% in the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. 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.