Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $325.00 to $275.00. The stock had previously closed at $241.37, but opened at $230.26. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Tesla shares last traded at $224.50, with a volume of 13,828,751 shares changing hands.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $404.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, March 17th. BNP Paribas set a $137.00 target price on Tesla and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wedbush lowered their price target on Tesla from $550.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Tesla from $320.00 to $275.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $290.66.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total value of $718,046.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,242,273.50. The trade was a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total transaction of $43,162,255.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 374,228 shares of company stock worth $123,791,123 in the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of 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 period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 27,378.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,812,316 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,542,960,000 after acquiring an additional 9,776,607 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $3,497,526,000 after acquiring an additional 8,637,195 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Tesla by 4,963.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,719,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $731.76 billion, a PE ratio of 111.52, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $271.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $323.14.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 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%. Research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS 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.