Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 3% - Still a Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) shares shot up 3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $304.05 and last traded at $302.72. 36,700,085 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 100,809,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $293.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TSLA. Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, June 9th. HSBC restated a "reduce" rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Glj Research reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $19.05 price target (down from $24.86) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $301.13.

Tesla Trading Up 1.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $959.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 163.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.57 and a beta of 2.39. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $321.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $323.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 6.66%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, 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 value of $32,732,635.32. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,463,220 shares in the company, valued at $522,940,195.80. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,395 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.12, for a total value of $30,809,717.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $23,300,200. This trade represents a 56.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 829,509 shares of company stock valued at $277,648,925 in the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,600,000. Means Investment CO. Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 37.7% in the first quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 23,089 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $5,984,000 after acquiring an additional 6,323 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 3.1% in the first quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 22,467 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $5,823,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in Tesla by 8.5% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 586,460 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $153,436,000 after acquiring an additional 46,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,158,000. 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.