Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 3% - Should You Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) shares traded up 3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $321.12 and last traded at $320.18. 37,341,627 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 99,006,466 shares. The stock had previously closed at $310.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Tesla from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Tesla from $314.00 to $307.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Tesla from $420.00 to $345.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Roth Mkm lowered their price target on Tesla from $450.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $300.19.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 180.60, a P/E/G ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 2.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $325.64 and a 200-day moving average of $317.81.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 6.66%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total transaction of $4,857,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 67,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,889,556. This represents a 18.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 91,588 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.39, for a total value of $32,732,635.32. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,463,220 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $522,940,195.80. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 835,509 shares of company stock worth $279,420,485. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Eagle Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $331,000. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 87,929 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $35,509,000 after acquiring an additional 9,293 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,317 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,147,000 after acquiring an additional 931 shares during the last quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $346,000. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,367,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.