Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 5.5% - Here's What Happened

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) were up 5.5% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $272.47 and last traded at $273.44. Approximately 50,867,659 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 93,230,329 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.16.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on TSLA shares. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Tesla from $320.00 to $275.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $312.65.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The company's 50 day moving average price is $309.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $322.81. The stock has a market cap of $770.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. Equities analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 in the last quarter. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,650,393 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $955,052,000 after buying an additional 194,796 shares in the last quarter. United Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the third quarter worth $287,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 4.6% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 444,091 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $116,184,000 after acquiring an additional 19,342 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at $13,516,000. Finally, Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Tesla by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. now owns 2,202 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Company Profile

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.