Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 5.1% – Here’s What Happened

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares shot up 5.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $358.69 and last traded at $353.76. 35,118,949 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 75,866,516 shares. The stock had previously closed at $336.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TSLA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Tesla from $480.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark began coverage on Tesla in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $475.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $407.25 and a 200 day moving average of $306.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 172.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total value of $975,191.26. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total value of $27,590,250.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,463,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $538,274,741.40. This trade represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 635,776 shares of company stock valued at $231,335,112. 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 business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $14,420,248,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 35,611.2% in the third 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 buying an additional 11,023,436 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased 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 valued at $13,997,660,000 after buying an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 8,637,195 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake 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 valued at $2,356,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,719,466 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.