Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 0.2%

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares rose 0.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $175.06 and last traded at $174.41. Approximately 25,684,946 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 101,436,680 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on TSLA. Edward Jones lowered shares of Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Tesla from $234.00 to $222.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, February 26th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $185.90.

Tesla Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $202.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $565.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.27, a PEG ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 2.41.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. Tesla had a return on equity of 13.18% and a net margin of 14.37%. The firm had revenue of $21.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.15 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total transaction of $121,674.57. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,188,215.81. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Tesla news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total transaction of $2,143,785.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,376,229.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total transaction of $121,674.57. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,188,215.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 302,803 shares of company stock valued at $56,124,840. Corporate insiders own 25.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,602,120 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $41,064,917,000 after purchasing an additional 3,795,748 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Tesla by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,546,823,000 after buying an additional 2,177,397 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 0.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,040,734 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $7,266,572,000 after acquiring an additional 269,182 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Tesla by 3.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 27,542,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,891,765,000 after acquiring an additional 909,170 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by 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.