Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 4.4% – Still a Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price traded up 4.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $236.00 and last traded at $231.61. 55,750,454 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 94,757,854 shares. The stock had previously closed at $221.86.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on TSLA. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays raised their price target on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Tesla from $500.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $301.40.

Tesla Trading Up 6.2 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $758.12 billion, a PE ratio of 114.52, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The business’s fifty day moving average is $295.83 and its 200 day moving average is $323.34.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $383.11, for a total value of $2,681,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,745,581.15. 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 through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 370,228 shares of company stock valued at $122,791,123. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 27,378.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,812,316 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,542,960,000 after acquiring an additional 9,776,607 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 36,790.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,497,526,000 after purchasing an additional 8,637,195 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Tesla by 4,963.0% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,834,707 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,356,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,719,466 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.