Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 1.8% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) were down 1.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $450.00 to $400.00. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $247.03 and last traded at $249.62. Approximately 24,990,425 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 95,668,193 shares. The stock had previously closed at $254.11.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on TSLA. Bank of America cut their target price on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $180.00 to $388.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $420.00 to $345.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Wedbush lowered their price objective on Tesla from $550.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $292.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. The trade was a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 374,228 shares of company stock valued at $123,791,123. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Tesla by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $98,211,134,000 after buying an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $24,566,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter worth about $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $775.71 billion, a PE ratio of 118.22, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The business has a 50 day moving average of $275.67 and a 200-day moving average of $322.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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