Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 0.3% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) dropped 0.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $490.00 to $380.00. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $267.71 and last traded at $271.18. Approximately 35,247,910 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 80,167,531 shares. The stock had previously closed at $272.04.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on TSLA. UBS Group lifted their price target on Tesla from $226.00 to $259.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $315.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Mizuho reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush set a $302.80 target price on Tesla in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $315.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $40,775,792.65. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 303,996 shares of company stock valued at $118,467,387. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 36,790.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 8,637,195 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Tesla by 4,963.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,834,707 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,356,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,719,466 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Tesla by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Trading Down 0.8 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $378.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $318.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The company has a market capitalization of $867.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 132.53, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.34.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.