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

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Monday after Cfra Research downgraded the stock from a moderate buy rating to a hold rating. The stock had previously closed at $241.37, but opened at $230.26. Tesla shares last traded at $224.50, with a volume of 13,828,751 shares changing hands.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on TSLA. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Cowen raised Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Tesla from $375.00 to $325.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James cut shares of Tesla to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BNP Paribas set a $137.00 price objective on shares of Tesla and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $286.85.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at $6,737,500. This represents a 12.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % 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 worth $123,791,123 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $98,211,134,000 after buying an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $24,566,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655,203 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 40.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Tesla by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company's fifty day simple moving average is $267.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $322.05. The company has a market capitalization of $834.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Equities research 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.