Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $479.86, but opened at $466.50. Tesla shares last traded at $469.91, with a volume of 20,866,948 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSLA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research started coverage on Tesla in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $287.00 to $411.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Tesla from $280.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $272.06.

Tesla Stock Down 0.8 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $310.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $251.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 130.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.06, for a total transaction of $39,792,803.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $30,095,100. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $40,775,792.65. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 522,886 shares of company stock worth $171,393,831. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 1,248.9% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $52,124,000 after buying an additional 184,459 shares during the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management grew its holdings in Tesla by 12.1% in the third quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Tesla by 59.2% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $30,593,000 after purchasing an additional 43,685 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 3.3% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $80,944,000 after purchasing an additional 9,919 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $37,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,741 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.