Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Up 2.7% – Still a Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price traded up 2.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $463.01 and last traded at $458.96. 94,870,441 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 98,650,430 shares. The stock had previously closed at $446.89.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on TSLA shares. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $300.00 price objective on Tesla in a report on Monday, October 13th. Melius began coverage on Tesla in a report on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $520.00 price target for the company. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $483.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Barclays restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, December 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and nine have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $399.33.

Tesla Trading Up 2.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $435.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $376.29. The company has a market cap of $1.53 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 305.97, a P/E/G ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 1.87.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 5.51% and a return on equity of 6.61%. The firm had revenue of $28.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. Tesla’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 56,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.66, for a total transaction of $25,606,501.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,391,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $627,145,215.90. This represents a 3.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,637 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.93, for a total value of $1,170,643.41. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,107,145.01. This trade represents a 16.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 119,457 shares of company stock valued at $52,137,945. Company insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Siren L.L.C. bought a new position in Tesla during the first quarter worth $2,332,000. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 12,748 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,304,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,839,824,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey grew its stake in Tesla by 5.6% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 427,150 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $135,688,000 after purchasing an additional 22,607 shares during the period. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in Tesla in the first quarter worth approximately $594,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.