Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 1.6% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) were down 1.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $326.59 and last traded at $332.89. Approximately 57,687,891 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average daily volume of 95,490,797 shares. The stock had previously closed at $338.23.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on TSLA shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $280.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Tesla from $236.00 to $238.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Tesla from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $231.06.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $270.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $229.89. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 91.20, a P/E/G ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 2.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total value of $35,339,911.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,727,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,967,479.07. This trade represents a 0.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 301,187 shares of company stock worth $92,956,692. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Tesla by 8.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,958,174 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,035,577,000 after purchasing an additional 300,951 shares during the period. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,145,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Tesla by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 15,845 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $4,146,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Tesla by 10.0% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 28,160 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,368,000 after acquiring an additional 2,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blankinship & Foster LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the third quarter worth approximately $1,243,000. 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.