Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 5.4% – Time to Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price was down 5.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $293.21 and last traded at $300.66. Approximately 69,987,124 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 101,774,243 shares. The stock had previously closed at $317.66.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TSLA shares. BNP Paribas set a $137.00 target price on Tesla and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Tesla to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $298.37.

Tesla Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $316.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $328.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $972.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 166.13, a P/E/G ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 2.47.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $19.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 6.66%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.02, for a total value of $2,046,120.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $664,989. This trade represents a 75.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ira Matthew Ehrenpreis sold 477,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.30, for a total transaction of $170,636,475.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 855,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $305,632,276.20. This represents a 35.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 833,509 shares of company stock worth $278,648,925. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the 4th quarter worth $56,600,000. Means Investment CO. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 37.7% during the first quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 23,089 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $5,984,000 after purchasing an additional 6,323 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its holdings in Tesla by 3.1% in the first quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 22,467 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $5,823,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares during the period. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. grew its position in Tesla by 133.7% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 2,847 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after buying an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,158,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.