Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 1.1% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Tesla shares decreased by 1.1% during mid-day trading, closing at $442.60, with a significant drop in trading volume.
• Recent analyst upgrades have seen target prices increase, with Evercore ISI raising their target from $235 to $300 and Piper Sandler from $400 to $500.
• Insider trading activities included significant stock sales, with SVP Xiaotong Zhu selling 20,000 shares for approximately $7.28 million.

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) fell 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $442.05 and last traded at $442.60. 53,823,276 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 101,755,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $447.43.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on TSLA shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Tesla from $235.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $400.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Sunday, July 27th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $375.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $374.00 to $509.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and ten have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $363.54.

Tesla Price Performance

The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $389.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $335.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 255.84, a PEG ratio of 15.79 and a beta of 2.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. Tesla's revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total transaction of $7,275,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 47,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,314,500. This trade represents a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total value of $42,034,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 697,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,162,988.99. The trade was a 14.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902 over the last ninety days. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Tesla by 1.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,390,681 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $79,856,764,000 after acquiring an additional 4,502,976 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 64,767,993 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $20,480,477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,269,304 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,839,824,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 322.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,590,525 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $6,891,201,000 after buying an additional 20,291,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Tesla by 5.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 20,225,098 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $6,424,705,000 after buying an additional 1,134,678 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.

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