Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 0.4% – Should You Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price fell 0.4% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $271.28 and last traded at $277.30. 63,942,860 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 91,569,636 shares. The stock had previously closed at $278.39.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TSLA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Tesla from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $404.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $351.00 to $373.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.93.

Tesla Trading Up 2.0 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $332.69 and a 200 day moving average of $321.49. The firm has a market cap of $913.42 billion, a PE ratio of 139.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % 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 worth $166,849,043 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avant Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth $519,000. Fire Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter worth about $5,424,000. Fulcrum Equity Management boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 1,103 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $445,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. M1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $863,000. Finally, Chancellor Financial Group WB LP bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth approximately $577,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently 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.