Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $474.00 to $455.00. The stock had previously closed at $263.55, but opened at $249.31. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Tesla shares last traded at $251.50, with a volume of 23,693,794 shares trading hands.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Benchmark initiated coverage on Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $475.00 price objective for the company. Cowen raised Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $317.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. The trade was a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in Tesla by 79.5% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Tesla by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. increased its stake in Tesla by 193.3% during the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Trading Up 3.6 %

The company has a market cap of $863.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.60, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $314.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $323.48.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current 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.