Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading Down 3.3% – Time to Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price was down 3.3% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $333.37 and last traded at $338.57. Approximately 38,036,539 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 96,865,560 shares. The stock had previously closed at $349.98.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TSLA has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America dropped their target price on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $325.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.43.

Tesla Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $267.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $330.65. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 167.55, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.43. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $19.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $1,200,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,085,000. This trade represents a 12.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 412,623 shares of company stock valued at $115,600,501. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 86.3% in the first quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 95 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. First PREMIER Bank raised its holdings in Tesla by 79.2% in the 1st quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Newton One Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 250.0% during the first quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 105 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in Tesla by 79.5% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.