Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 7.4% Higher - Should You Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) rose 7.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $462.78 and last traded at $462.28. Approximately 59,551,754 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 95,172,773 shares. The stock had previously closed at $430.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. HSBC reaffirmed a "reduce" rating and set a $124.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 11th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Tesla from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $272.06.

Tesla Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 126.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $331.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $260.84.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total value of $35,339,911.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,727,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total transaction of $975,191.26. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 514,886 shares of company stock valued at $169,393,831. Insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 1,248.9% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $52,124,000 after buying an additional 184,459 shares during the period. Destination Wealth Management increased 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 period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Tesla by 59.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $30,593,000 after purchasing an additional 43,685 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $80,944,000 after purchasing an additional 9,919 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Tesla by 1.2% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $37,801,000 after buying an additional 1,741 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

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.