Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 0.2% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) were down 0.2% on Thursday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $450.00 to $400.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $237.68 and last traded at $241.17. Approximately 30,198,597 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 95,747,623 shares. The stock had previously closed at $241.55.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Glj Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays upped their price target on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, HSBC decreased their price objective on Tesla from $165.00 to $130.00 and set a “reduce” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $292.18.

Insider Activity

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $383.11, for a total value of $2,681,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $41,745,581.15. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 374,228 shares of company stock worth $123,791,123. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Tesla by 5.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,650,393 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $955,052,000 after purchasing an additional 194,796 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Tesla by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 341,442 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $89,332,000 after buying an additional 39,961 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 3,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Resource Group increased its stake in Tesla by 1.2% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 4,260 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc raised its position in Tesla by 46.0% during the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 8,712 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,279,000 after purchasing an additional 2,743 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $277.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $322.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market cap of $774.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Tesla Company Profile

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.