Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 1.2% After Insider Selling

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price was down 1.2% on Thursday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $253.50 and last traded at $253.96. Approximately 28,937,934 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 95,738,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $257.02.

Specifically, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TSLA. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $134.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. New Street Research downgraded shares of Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Glj Research reissued a “sell” rating and set a $24.86 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $209.90.

Tesla Trading Up 2.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $832.08 billion, a PE ratio of 65.21, a PEG ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 2.29. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $221.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.95.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $25.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.38 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 10.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Integris Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 1.0% in the second quarter. Integris Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,065 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $804,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Echo Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 0.7% in the second quarter. Echo Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,474 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,281,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Tesla by 3.2% in the second quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 1,433 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Bellevue Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 1.6% in the second quarter. Bellevue Asset Management LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $568,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Cypress Capital Group raised its position in shares of Tesla by 1.7% in the second quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 2,806 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $555,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.