Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 1.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price was down 1.5% on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft now has a $123.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $189.00. Tesla traded as low as $153.78 and last traded at $154.72. Approximately 29,159,865 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 101,150,414 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.11.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Tesla from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets cut Tesla from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Tesla from $320.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Tesla from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, China Renaissance initiated coverage on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.70.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total transaction of $2,143,785.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 31,230 shares in the company, valued at $6,376,229.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,376,229.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,920,950. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534. 25.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Tesla by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,806,372 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $57,102,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,866,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Tesla by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 99,683,820 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $20,680,162,000 after purchasing an additional 685,454 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 7.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $7,546,823,000 after acquiring an additional 2,177,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Stock Down 3.6 %

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $179.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.21. 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 company has a market cap of $477.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.79, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 2.39.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). The business 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%. Tesla’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.