Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 0.9% – Here’s Why

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price 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 changed 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on TSLA. 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $287.00 to $411.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Wolfe Research started coverage on Tesla in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $272.06.

Tesla Trading Down 0.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 119.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $318.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $254.21.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total transaction of $35,254,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,903,716. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 522,886 shares of company stock valued at $171,393,831 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,356,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $15,469,792,000 after buying an additional 1,022,589 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,473,008,000 after acquiring an additional 828,308 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 13.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,377,970,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946,763 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,545,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $4,328,884,000 after acquiring an additional 301,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 11.9% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,201,212 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,192,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,093 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.