Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 3.4% After Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Tesla's stock price fell 3.4% following a downgrade from Evercore ISI, which lowered the price target from $300 to $235.
• Despite the downgrade, some analysts maintain optimistic views, with target prices ranging up to $520 from various research firms.
• Insider trading activity has been notable, with CFO Vaibhav Taneja and SVP Xiaotong Zhu selling shares, indicating a 20.91% and 29.59% decrease in their ownership, respectively.

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) dropped 3.4% during mid-day trading on Friday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $300.00 to $235.00. The stock traded as low as $430.17 and last traded at $433.72. Approximately 94,065,013 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 8% from the average daily volume of 101,756,125 shares. The stock had previously closed at $448.98.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on TSLA. Melius Research set a $520.00 target price on Tesla and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Mizuho raised their target price on Tesla from $450.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reissued a "negative" rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $483.00 price objective on Tesla and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, CICC Research lifted their price objective on Tesla from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and eleven have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $380.03.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total transaction of $918,302.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,856 shares in the company, valued at $3,473,057.28. The trade was a 20.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total value of $7,275,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at $17,314,500. This represents a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 202,606 shares of company stock worth $75,588,902. Company insiders own 19.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 6,558 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,916,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Equita Financial Network Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Equita Financial Network Inc. now owns 855 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 3,118 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $1,387,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $905,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DecisionMap Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. DecisionMap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $1,126,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $396.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $338.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 289.15, a P/E/G ratio of 15.78 and a beta of 2.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.98 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.72% and a net margin of 5.51%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. Analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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