Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 1.5% After Insider Selling

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 1.5% during trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $256.94 and last traded at $259.56. 32,297,937 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 80,771,719 shares. The stock had previously closed at $263.45.

Specifically, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total value of $718,046.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,242,273.50. The trade was a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.02, for a total value of $1,776,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,084 shares in the company, valued at $6,833,325.68. The trade was a 20.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.61, for a total value of $33,673,167.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $25,466,850. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TSLA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Robert W. Baird decreased 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. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $388.00 in a report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $327.37.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The company has a market capitalization of $844.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.76, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $367.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $318.03.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. Analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 36,790.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,497,526,000 after acquiring an additional 8,637,195 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 4,963.0% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,834,707 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,356,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,719,466 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 5,075,418 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.