Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 0.3%

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares shot up 0.3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $181.58 and last traded at $178.17. 33,457,066 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 102,249,883 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.67.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on TSLA. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Edward Jones cut Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays dropped their target price on Tesla from $250.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $207.00.

Tesla Stock Up 1.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.73. The company has a market cap of $574.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 2.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $222.86.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 16.62%. Tesla’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.07 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total value of $121,674.57. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 63,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,188,215.81. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total value of $121,674.57. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 63,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,188,215.81. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.44, for a total value of $16,439,605.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,631,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 198,598 shares of company stock valued at $36,952,434 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 20.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wyrmwood Management LLC purchased a new position in Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Lam Group Inc. purchased a new position in Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Halpern Financial Inc. grew its stake in Tesla by 1,111.1% during the 3rd quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 109 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpha Paradigm Partners LLC purchased a new position in Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.