Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 5.2% Following Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares were down 5.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $440.00 to $320.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $222.28 and last traded at $225.65. Approximately 42,963,975 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 90,614,737 shares. The stock had previously closed at $238.01.

TSLA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley restated a “top pick” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Glj Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $321.12.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total transaction of $43,162,255.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,400. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Tesla by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $98,211,134,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571,793 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Tesla by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $24,566,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655,203 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Tesla by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Trading Up 4.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $758.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.62, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $341.28 and a 200 day moving average of $320.02.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.