Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Trading 2.5% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price traded up 2.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $243.93 and last traded at $242.19. 45,642,749 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 90,819,679 shares. The stock had previously closed at $236.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on TSLA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Benchmark started coverage on Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $475.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.93.

Tesla Stock Up 5.3 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $335.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $320.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $799.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.92, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total transaction of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 36,790.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 8,660,672 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,497,526,000 after acquiring an additional 8,637,195 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Tesla by 4,963.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,834,707 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,356,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,719,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Tesla by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.