Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 6.9% After Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 6.9% during trading on Thursday after Wedbush lowered their price target on the stock from $550.00 to $315.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $261.51 and last traded at $263.15. Approximately 56,261,452 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 93,898,234 shares. The stock had previously closed at $282.76.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on TSLA. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $474.00 to $455.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $305.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $383.11, for a total transaction of $2,681,770.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,745,581.15. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 370,228 shares of company stock worth $122,791,123 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $24,566,217,000 after buying an additional 1,655,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Tesla by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Stock Performance

The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $305.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $324.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $750.38 billion, a PE ratio of 114.36, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.