Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $403.84, but opened at $390.10. Tesla shares last traded at $386.25, with a volume of 36,929,964 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $283.39.

Tesla Stock Up 8.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $359.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 112.45, a P/E/G ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,258,000. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 60,500 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.23, for a total transaction of $15,138,915.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,563,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,164,540.60. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 514,886 shares of company stock worth $169,393,831. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 168.8% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Tesla during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Clean Yield Group boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 60.0% in the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the third quarter worth $35,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.