Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $225.31, but opened at $231.61. Tesla shares last traded at $231.09, with a volume of 14,302,782 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TSLA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Glj Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, New Street Research raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $321.12.

Tesla Trading Up 2.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $742.98 billion, a PE ratio of 113.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $344.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $320.61.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. This trade represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,643,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 over the last quarter. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 1,248.9% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $52,124,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares during the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management increased its stake in Tesla by 12.1% in the third quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 126.7% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 1,594 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Tesla by 59.2% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $30,593,000 after acquiring an additional 43,685 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.3% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $80,944,000 after buying an additional 9,919 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.