Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 2.2% – Should You Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price fell 2.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $394.74 and last traded at $395.23. 110,845,526 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 10% from the average session volume of 100,561,625 shares. The stock had previously closed at $403.99.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TSLA has been the topic of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $307.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $483.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $300.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and ten have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $394.31.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $433.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $363.32. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 trillion, a P/E ratio of 263.37, a PEG ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 2.06.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The company had revenue of $28.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. Tesla’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total transaction of $7,275,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,314,500. This trade represents a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total transaction of $918,302.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,473,057.28. This represents a 20.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 202,606 shares of company stock worth $75,588,902. Insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chapman Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 59.7% during the 1st quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 107 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Turning Point Benefit Group Inc. purchased a new position in Tesla during the third quarter worth about $30,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.