Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 0.1% – Time to Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 0.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $238.00 and last traded at $236.08. Approximately 33,978,504 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 90,713,331 shares. The stock had previously closed at $235.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on TSLA shares. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Tesla from $515.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $404.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Nine investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.93.

Tesla Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $799.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.92, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $335.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $319.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 36,790.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,637,195 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Tesla by 4,963.0% during 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 buying an additional 5,719,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Tesla by 21.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares in the last quarter. 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.