Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 1.5% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Tesla's stock fell by 1.5%, trading as low as $421.31, with a total volume of approximately 76.5 million shares—a significant drop from its average volume.
• Analysts have differing views on Tesla's future, with target prices ranging from $300 to $548, while the average rating stands at "Hold" with a price target of $363.54.
• Recent insider trading activity includes significant sales of shares by company executives, with a total of 202,606 shares sold in the last 90 days valued at $75.6 million.

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) dropped 1.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $421.31 and last traded at $428.75. Approximately 76,511,795 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average daily volume of 102,249,297 shares. The stock had previously closed at $435.15.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TSLA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Melius initiated coverage on Tesla in a research note on Monday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $520.00 target price on the stock. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $300.00 target price on Tesla in a research note on Monday. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on Tesla in a research note on Thursday. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $307.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded Tesla from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $320.00 to $548.00 in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $483.00 target price on Tesla and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and ten have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $363.54.

Tesla Stock Down 1.5%

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $383.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $330.90. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 247.83, a PEG ratio of 15.47 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.03). Tesla had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 6.54%.The company had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Tesla's quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 47,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,314,500. The trade was a 29.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the director directly owned 697,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,162,988.99. This represents a 14.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902. Insiders own 19.90% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Tesla during the second quarter valued at about $11,839,824,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Tesla by 322.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,590,525 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $6,891,201,000 after acquiring an additional 20,291,139 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 5.9% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 1,134,678 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by 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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