Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 0.6%

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 0.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $259.38 and last traded at $255.62. Approximately 25,075,991 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 95,549,180 shares. The stock had previously closed at $254.22.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TSLA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $224.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Glj Research restated a “sell” rating and issued a $24.86 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $209.90.

Tesla Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $221.47 and its 200-day moving average is $197.95. The stock has a market cap of $824.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 66,364 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.96, for a total value of $14,597,425.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,696,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 66,364 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.96, for a total transaction of $14,597,425.44. Following the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,696,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 8,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,258,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 74,661 shares of company stock worth $16,663,291. 25.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Clean Energy Transition LLP increased its stake in Tesla by 347.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clean Energy Transition LLP now owns 4,818,600 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $953,505,000 after buying an additional 6,764,300 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 21,816.0% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 5,902,416 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,167,970,000 after buying an additional 5,875,484 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Tesla by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,806,372 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $57,102,287,000 after buying an additional 3,866,361 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Tesla by 236.8% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 1,479,378 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Tesla by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 9,849,425 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,731,430,000 after buying an additional 1,125,329 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.