Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 1.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 1.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft now has a $123.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $189.00. Tesla traded as low as $153.78 and last traded at $154.72. 29,159,865 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 101,150,414 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.11.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Tesla from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. KGI Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $213.00 price target (down from $309.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Wedbush decreased their price target on Tesla from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Tesla from $196.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Tesla from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $245.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $194.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.20, for a total transaction of $1,850,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,502,726. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total value of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,920,950. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.20, for a total value of $1,850,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,502,726. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 209,098 shares of company stock valued at $38,802,534. 25.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wyrmwood Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Lam Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Alpha Paradigm Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. MayTech Global Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 202.2% in the fourth quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 136 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $212.21. The firm has a market cap of $477.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 2.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). Tesla had a return on equity of 16.62% and a net margin of 15.50%. The firm had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.