Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 9.5% Higher - Here's Why

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 9.5% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $274.72 and last traded at $272.31. 68,876,539 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 24% from the average session volume of 91,203,451 shares. The stock had previously closed at $248.71.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Tesla from $420.00 to $345.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Roth Capital upgraded Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. TD Cowen raised Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, New Street Research upgraded Tesla from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $460.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $318.34.

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Tesla Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $847.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The firm's 50 day moving average is $321.33 and its 200-day moving average is $322.34. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 over the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 2.8% in 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 bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 21.6% in the fourth 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. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.