Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 3.2% Higher – Time to Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price shot up 3.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $341.18 and last traded at $338.91. 41,938,607 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 75,002,531 shares. The stock had previously closed at $328.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TSLA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Tesla from $254.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Roth Capital upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $326.50.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 168.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $407.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $306.23.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued 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 analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 75,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total transaction of $27,590,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,463,220 shares in the company, valued at $538,274,741.40. The trade was a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total transaction of $35,339,911.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $26,727,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 635,776 shares of company stock valued at $231,335,112 in the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Tesla in the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,420,248,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 35,611.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 11,054,391 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,892,160,000 after purchasing an additional 11,023,436 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in Tesla by 36,790.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,497,526,000 after purchasing an additional 8,637,195 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Tesla by 55,181.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,382,674 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,769,899,000 after purchasing an additional 4,374,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Tesla by 194.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,486,739 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,215,765,000 after buying an additional 3,624,910 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.