Short Interest in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Increases By 21.2%

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 81,330,000 shares, a growth of 21.2% from the February 28th total of 67,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 93,410,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.9 days. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on TSLA. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, New Street Research raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $317.75.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of TSLA opened at $282.76 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $312.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $323.20. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $909.50 billion, a PE ratio of 138.61, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. Tesla has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Equities analysts predict that Tesla will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was 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 owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 5.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,650,393 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $955,052,000 after acquiring an additional 194,796 shares in the last quarter. United Bank acquired a new position in Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at about $287,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter valued at about $687,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 95.6% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 41,766 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $10,927,000 after acquiring an additional 20,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Community Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 4.4% during the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 908 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.