Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 2% on Insider Selling

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares traded down 2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $320.12 and last traded at $322.51. 23,978,306 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 100,476,541 shares. The stock had previously closed at $329.13.

Specifically, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total transaction of $4,857,150.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,889,556. The trade was a 18.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TSLA. Raymond James Financial downgraded Tesla to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Tesla from $314.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Tesla from $325.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Cfra Research lowered Tesla from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Tesla from $404.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.67.

Tesla Stock Down 3.8%

The firm has a market cap of $1.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 174.03, a P/E/G ratio of 12.36 and a beta of 2.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $302.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $332.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $19.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 6.66%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Wealth Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at about $275,000. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $374,000. Eagle Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $331,000. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 87,929 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $35,509,000 after acquiring an additional 9,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,317 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,147,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Company Profile

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.