Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 7.5% After Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was down 7.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $490.00 to $380.00. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $261.84 and last traded at $263.37. Approximately 49,843,200 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 79,350,680 shares. The stock had previously closed at $284.65.

TSLA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Tesla from $480.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $315.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total value of $27,590,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,463,220 shares in the company, valued at $538,274,741.40. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total transaction of $975,191.26. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,775,792.65. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 303,996 shares of company stock worth $118,467,387 in the last quarter. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Tesla in the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, GS Investments Inc. increased its stake in Tesla by 193.3% in the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Down 4.4 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $378.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $318.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $875.24 billion, a PE ratio of 133.39, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.34.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. Analysts expect 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.