Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 6.4%

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price shot up 6.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $184.06 and last traded at $183.67. 52,132,465 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 102,342,117 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TSLA has been the topic of a number of research reports. KGI Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $213.00 price objective (down previously from $309.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, February 26th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Tesla from $250.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $207.04.

Tesla Stock Up 1.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $572.72 billion, a PE ratio of 41.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 2.41. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.36.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $25.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 16.62% and a net margin of 15.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total transaction of $2,143,785.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,376,229.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total transaction of $2,143,785.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,376,229.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total value of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,920,950. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 198,598 shares of company stock worth $36,952,434. Insiders own 20.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,806,372 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $57,102,287,000 after acquiring an additional 3,866,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Tesla by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 104,115,390 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $27,254,286,000 after purchasing an additional 4,431,570 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Tesla by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $7,546,823,000 after purchasing an additional 2,177,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Tesla by 0.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,040,734 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,266,572,000 after purchasing an additional 269,182 shares in the last quarter. 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.