Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 5.1% – Here’s What Happened

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shot up 5.1% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $358.69 and last traded at $353.76. 35,118,949 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 75,866,516 shares. The stock had previously closed at $336.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TSLA. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho restated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Tesla from $226.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $326.50.

Tesla Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 174.43, a PEG ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $406.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $307.64.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.06, for a total value of $39,792,803.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,095,100. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.43, for a total transaction of $2,481,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,226,491.76. This trade represents a 6.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 523,386 shares of company stock worth $195,995,200. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth $14,420,248,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 35,611.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 11,054,391 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,892,160,000 after buying an additional 11,023,436 shares during the last quarter. 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. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 36,790.0% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 8,637,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Tesla by 4,963.0% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 5,719,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Company Profile

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.