Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 0.9% – What’s Next?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) traded down 0.9% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $461.11 and last traded at $475.45. 32,665,536 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 94,672,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $479.86.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on TSLA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. KGI Securities raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $272.06.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $310.89 and a 200-day moving average of $251.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.33, a P/E/G ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,258,000. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total value of $15,138,915.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares in the company, valued at $391,164,540.60. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 522,886 shares of company stock worth $171,393,831 in the last three months. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SMART Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the third quarter valued at approximately $208,000. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 3,804 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $995,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at $232,000. Oriental Harbor Investment Fund purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth $14,700,000. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its holdings in Tesla by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 8,200 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,145,000 after purchasing an additional 1,548 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.