Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 0.4% - Time to Sell?

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) traded down 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $271.28 and last traded at $277.30. 63,942,860 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 91,569,636 shares. The stock had previously closed at $278.39.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on TSLA. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen upgraded Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $404.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $318.34.

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Tesla Stock Down 4.3 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $324.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $840.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 127.80, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. This trade represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 40.1% in the fourth 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 during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 36,790.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $3,497,526,000 after purchasing an additional 8,637,195 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 4,963.0% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,834,707 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,356,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,719,466 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 21.6% in 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 buying an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.