Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 1.3% - Here's Why

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) traded down 1.3% on Friday . The company traded as low as $333.21 and last traded at $336.55. 36,811,233 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 97,091,316 shares. The stock had previously closed at $341.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on TSLA shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $450.00 price target on shares of Tesla and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Cfra Research lowered Tesla from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Tesla from $370.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. HSBC lowered their price objective on Tesla from $165.00 to $130.00 and set a "reduce" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Argus set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $293.97.

Tesla Trading Up 0.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 167.26, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.43. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $275.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $332.09.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. The company had revenue of $19.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,395 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.12, for a total transaction of $30,809,717.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $23,300,200. This represents a 56.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.11, for a total transaction of $1,050,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,435,464.50. The trade was a 10.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 415,623 shares of company stock valued at $116,650,831 in the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wealth Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth $275,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,361,000. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $374,000. Flower City Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Flower City Capital now owns 961 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McCarthy & Cox bought a new stake in Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $269,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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