Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 1.4% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Tesla's stock price dropped 1.4%, trading around $329.36 with a significant 79% decline in trading volume compared to its average session.
• Analysts have set a range of price targets for Tesla, with Mizuho lowering its target from $390 to $375, while Guggenheim maintains a sell rating with a target of $175.
• Insider trading activity includes the sale of 120,000 shares by Director James R. Murdoch, marking a 14.69% decrease in his ownership, and the recent report shows insiders have sold 143,564 shares in the last 90 days.

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 1.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $325.60 and last traded at $329.36. 21,336,143 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 103,505,688 shares. The stock had previously closed at $333.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on TSLA. Mizuho cut their price target on Tesla from $390.00 to $375.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Guggenheim restated a "sell" rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group set a $290.00 target price on Tesla in a report on Monday, June 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Sunday, July 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and nine have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $303.31.

Tesla Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 189.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.61 and a beta of 2.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $323.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $302.39.

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

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 15,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total value of $4,857,150.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 67,600 shares in the company, valued at $21,889,556. This trade represents a 18.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total transaction of $42,034,800.00. Following the sale, the director owned 697,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 143,564 shares of company stock valued at $49,396,070. Insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Tesla by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,390,681 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $79,856,764,000 after buying an additional 4,502,976 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.0% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 1,269,304 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the second quarter worth about $11,839,824,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 20,291,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,536,519 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $9,908,828,000 after purchasing an additional 158,697 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.

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