Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) shares gapped down before the market opened on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $474.00 to $455.00. The stock had previously closed at $263.55, but opened at $249.31. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Tesla shares last traded at $251.50, with a volume of 23,693,794 shares.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. HSBC reduced their price target on Tesla from $165.00 to $130.00 and set a "reduce" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $430.00 to $410.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $317.75.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. This 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 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. GS Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 193.3% during the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $863.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.60, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $317.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $323.21.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. Sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS 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.