Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 1.4% – What’s Next?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price rose 1.4% on Monday . The company traded as high as $303.94 and last traded at $297.01. Approximately 39,324,036 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 78,166,211 shares. The stock had previously closed at $292.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSLA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America cut Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $400.00 to $490.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Tesla from $480.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Glj Research reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $24.86 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $318.77.

Tesla Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $915.58 billion, a PE ratio of 139.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $385.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $317.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 403,996 shares of company stock worth $153,721,387 in the last three months. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Tesla in the 4th quarter worth $428,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $813,000. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $455,000. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 47.2% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Tesla by 20.7% in the 4th quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 426,983 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $172,433,000 after buying an additional 73,340 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently 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.