Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 1.2% After Insider Selling

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price was down 1.2% on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $253.50 and last traded at $253.96. Approximately 28,937,934 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 95,738,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $257.02.

Specifically, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,258,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $280.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. China Renaissance upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Glj Research restated a “sell” rating and set a $24.86 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $209.90.

Tesla Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average is $221.37 and its 200-day moving average is $197.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $804.31 billion, a PE ratio of 64.79, a P/E/G ratio of 6.80 and a beta of 2.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $25.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.38 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.41% and a net margin of 13.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its stake in Tesla by 41.0% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 23,470 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $4,644,000 after purchasing an additional 6,823 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in Tesla by 236.8% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,104,010 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $416,341,000 after acquiring an additional 1,479,378 shares during the period. FIDELIS iM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the second quarter worth $2,089,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 19.2% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 29,156 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $5,769,000 after purchasing an additional 4,690 shares during the period. Finally, Brightwater Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the second quarter worth approximately $332,000. 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.