Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 8.1% - Time to Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 8.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $301.41 and last traded at $303.84. 53,415,715 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 74,668,773 shares. The stock had previously closed at $330.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on TSLA. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $475.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $365.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Tesla currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $318.77.

Tesla Trading Up 4.0 %

The firm's 50 day moving average price is $385.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $315.95. The stock has a market cap of $943.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 143.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.06, for a total transaction of $39,792,803.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,095,100. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total transaction of $975,191.26. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 523,386 shares of company stock valued at $195,995,200 over the last three months. Insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth $428,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth $813,000. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth $455,000. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 47.2% in the fourth quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 4,449 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $1,797,000 after purchasing an additional 1,427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 426,983 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $172,433,000 after purchasing an additional 73,340 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.