Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 5.7% on Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) dropped 5.7% during trading on Monday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $515.00 to $430.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $236.80 and last traded at $235.71. Approximately 36,435,048 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 87,576,094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $249.98.

TSLA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Tesla from $315.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Tesla by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $24,566,217,000 after buying an additional 1,655,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after buying an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings 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 worth $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $347.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $320.53. The stock has a market cap of $765.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. Analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.