Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 1.7% - Here's What Happened

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $367.34 and last traded at $360.09. Approximately 27,852,437 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 75,090,922 shares. The stock had previously closed at $354.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on TSLA shares. Benchmark started coverage on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $475.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Glj Research restated a "sell" rating and set a $24.86 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $319.57.

Tesla Price Performance

The company's 50 day moving average price is $400.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $312.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 165.59, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the 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 $40,775,792.65. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.06, for a total transaction of $39,792,803.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,095,100. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 523,386 shares of company stock worth $195,995,200 over the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Tesla by 2.8% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,098,717 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $287,457,000 after purchasing an additional 29,669 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter worth $262,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 16.7% during the third quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,613 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $684,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 34.1% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,166 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $1,087,000 after buying an additional 1,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 80.3% during the third quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 2,324 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $608,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.