Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 5.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) dropped 5.5% during mid-day trading on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $474.00 to $455.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $243.36 and last traded at $249.11. Approximately 47,326,694 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 49% from the average daily volume of 93,064,147 shares. The stock had previously closed at $263.55.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on TSLA. New Street Research raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer restated a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Roth Capital upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $165.00 to $130.00 and set a “reduce” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $317.75.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla 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 sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,186,000. Avant Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $519,000. Fire Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,424,000. Fulcrum Equity Management grew its stake in Tesla by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 1,103 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $863,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $833.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $317.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $323.21.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. On average, analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.