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

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $315.35, but opened at $291.37. Tesla shares last traded at $293.63, with a volume of 25,228,108 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on TSLA. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Tesla to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Tesla from $314.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group set a $290.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, June 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $301.13.

Tesla Stock Up 1.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $959.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 163.63, a P/E/G ratio of 8.57 and a beta of 2.39. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $321.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $323.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 6.66%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ira Matthew Ehrenpreis sold 477,572 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $357.30, for a total value of $170,636,475.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 855,394 shares in the company, valued at $305,632,276.20. This trade represents a 35.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,564 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.71, for a total transaction of $732,560.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 5,924 shares in the company, valued at $1,692,546.04. This trade represents a 30.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 829,509 shares of company stock valued at $277,648,925 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Rinkey Investments boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Rinkey Investments now owns 860 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $594,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Horrell Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Aldebaran Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Aldebaran Financial Inc. now owns 1,174 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $490,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.