Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 1.1% - Should You Sell?

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) fell 1.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $252.65 and last traded at $254.66. 19,520,184 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 94,129,547 shares. The stock had previously closed at $257.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on TSLA. HSBC reiterated a "reduce" rating and issued a $124.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, October 11th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Tesla from $153.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $295.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $265.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $219.45.

Tesla Price Performance

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 company has a market cap of $810.99 billion, a PE ratio of 69.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.59 and a beta of 2.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $232.78 and a 200 day moving average of $209.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $2,000,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,258,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,967,479.07. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,297 shares of company stock valued at $3,065,866. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 60.2% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 549,008 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $108,638,000 after buying an additional 206,248 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 138.1% in the second quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 5,969 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 3,462 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Tesla by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,166 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $1,087,000 after buying an additional 1,059 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 12.9% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 236,802 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $46,858,000 after purchasing an additional 27,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Tesla during the first quarter valued at $1,941,000. Institutional investors 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.