Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 3.3% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) were down 3.3% during trading on Monday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $225.00 to $190.00. UBS Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $214.25 and last traded at $231.63. 80,790,562 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 94,254,869 shares. The stock had previously closed at $239.43.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on TSLA. TD Cowen raised shares of Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $388.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Tesla from $420.00 to $345.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Tesla from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $298.59.

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Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total transaction of $43,162,255.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $383.11, for a total transaction of $2,681,770.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 374,228 shares of company stock valued at $123,791,123 over the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Tesla by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $24,566,217,000 after buying an additional 1,655,203 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Stock Down 1.4 %

The stock's fifty day moving average price is $287.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $323.12. The company has a market capitalization of $800.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 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, sell-side analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.