Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 0.3% – Should You Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price dropped 0.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $413.70 and last traded at $416.07. Approximately 25,868,197 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 94,643,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $417.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on TSLA. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $287.00 to $411.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC reaffirmed a “reduce” rating and set a $124.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $272.06.

Tesla Stock Down 3.3 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $357.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $270.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 110.64, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. Tesla’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,258,000. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total value of $35,339,911.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,727,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 514,886 shares of company stock valued at $169,393,831. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Connable Office Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 12,872 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,368,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in Tesla by 4.4% in the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 908 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Holistic Financial Partners increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 4,055 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc raised its holdings in Tesla by 1.4% during the third quarter. Sherrill & Hutchins Financial Advisory Inc now owns 3,058 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altman Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 10,754 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,814,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 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.