Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 1% - Should You Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) traded up 1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $444.40 and last traded at $440.32. 47,816,958 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 95,026,813 shares. The stock had previously closed at $436.17.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on TSLA shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com raised Tesla from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $280.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Phillip Securities lowered shares of Tesla from a "moderate sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $272.06.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 115.36, a P/E/G ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The business has a 50-day moving average of $318.82 and a 200-day moving average of $254.21.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total value of $34,602,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,868,508. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,258,000. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 522,886 shares of company stock valued at $171,393,831. Insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SMART Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter worth about $208,000. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 3,804 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $232,000. Oriental Harbor Investment Fund bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the third quarter valued at approximately $14,700,000. Finally, Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its holdings in Tesla by 23.3% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 8,200 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,145,000 after buying an additional 1,548 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.