Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 3.5% – What’s Next?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price fell 3.5% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $272.59 and last traded at $278.19. 51,663,422 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 91,657,482 shares. The stock had previously closed at $288.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on TSLA shares. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $351.00 to $373.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. New Street Research raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.93.

Tesla Trading Down 5.1 %

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 firm has a market cap of $879.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 134.30, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $330.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $322.04.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 75.6% during the fourth 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. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.