Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 3.7% – Time to Sell?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price was down 3.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $421.88 and last traded at $429.52. Approximately 102,598,989 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 1% from the average daily volume of 101,115,273 shares. The stock had previously closed at $445.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on TSLA. Stifel Nicolaus set a $483.00 target price on shares of Tesla and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Melius Research set a $520.00 target price on Tesla and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $320.00 to $548.00 in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Tesla from $450.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and eleven have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $391.08.

Tesla Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 286.35, a PEG ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 2.06. The business’s 50 day moving average is $419.05 and its 200-day moving average is $353.32.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The business had revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. Tesla’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total transaction of $42,034,800.00. Following the sale, the director owned 697,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,162,988.99. This trade represents a 14.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total value of $7,275,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,314,500. The trade was a 29.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 202,606 shares of company stock worth $75,588,902. Insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Tesla during the third quarter worth $32,000. Chapman Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Tesla in the second quarter valued at $26,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Tesla during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. 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.