Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 6.5% - Time to Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) shares traded up 6.5% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $302.55 and last traded at $303.10. 70,835,418 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 99,237,572 shares. The stock had previously closed at $284.70.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TSLA has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen upgraded Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. BNP Paribas set a $137.00 target price on shares of Tesla and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Glj Research reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $19.05 price objective (down from $24.86) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $294.27.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $950.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 144.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.47. The company's 50 day moving average is $292.17 and its 200-day moving average is $333.62.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.26). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. The firm had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, Director Ira Matthew Ehrenpreis sold 477,572 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.30, for a total value of $170,636,475.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 855,394 shares in the company, valued at $305,632,276.20. This trade represents a 35.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 91,588 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.39, for a total transaction of $32,732,635.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,463,220 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $522,940,195.80. The trade was a 5.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 870,721 shares of company stock worth $286,248,728. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 246,887,705 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $63,983,418,000 after purchasing an additional 3,694,524 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $24,566,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Tesla by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.