Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 5.5% – Time to Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 5.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $272.47 and last traded at $273.44. Approximately 50,867,659 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 93,230,329 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.16.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on TSLA shares. Cowen upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Roth Mkm raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $420.00 to $345.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $317.75.

Tesla Trading Up 6.3 %

The stock has a market cap of $886.13 billion, a PE ratio of 134.97, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $317.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $323.21.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 in the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Tesla by 5.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,650,393 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $955,052,000 after purchasing an additional 194,796 shares in the last quarter. United Bank purchased a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter valued at approximately $287,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the third quarter worth approximately $687,000. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter valued at $246,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Tesla in the 3rd quarter valued at $875,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Company Profile

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.