Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 1.6% on Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price traded down 1.6% on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $125.00 to $120.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $171.29 and last traded at $171.84. 25,187,294 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 101,704,563 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.60.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on TSLA. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $298.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. KGI Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $213.00 price objective (down previously from $309.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Tesla from $193.00 to $176.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Edward Jones lowered shares of Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $198.81.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other Tesla news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total value of $2,143,785.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 31,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,376,229.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total value of $121,674.57. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 63,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,188,215.81. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.17, for a total value of $2,143,785.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,376,229.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534. 25.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,806,372 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $57,102,287,000 after purchasing an additional 3,866,361 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Tesla by 0.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 99,683,820 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $20,680,162,000 after purchasing an additional 685,454 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake 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 worth $7,546,823,000 after acquiring an additional 2,177,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 0.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,040,734 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,266,572,000 after acquiring an additional 269,182 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Trading Down 1.6 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $215.21. The company has a market capitalization of $547.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 2.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $25.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 16.62% and a net margin of 15.50%. Tesla’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.