Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $403.84, but opened at $390.10. Tesla shares last traded at $386.25, with a volume of 36,929,964 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $249.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $275.75.

Tesla Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $357.16 and a 200 day moving average of $270.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total value of $35,254,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,903,716. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total transaction of $975,191.26. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,775,792.65. This represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 514,886 shares of company stock worth $169,393,831 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,356,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $15,469,792,000 after buying an additional 1,022,589 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,473,008,000 after acquiring an additional 828,308 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 13.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,377,970,000 after buying an additional 2,946,763 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,545,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $4,328,884,000 after purchasing an additional 301,968 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,201,212 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,192,203,000 after buying an additional 1,294,093 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.