Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 1.2% – Time to Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price shot up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $332.05 and last traded at $329.31. 30,103,085 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 100,568,582 shares. The stock had previously closed at $325.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on TSLA. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on Tesla from $404.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Cfra Research downgraded Tesla from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Tesla from $325.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wedbush set a $500.00 price objective on Tesla in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.67.

Tesla Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $299.39 and a 200-day moving average of $332.88. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 161.10, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director Ira Matthew Ehrenpreis sold 477,572 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.30, for a total value of $170,636,475.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 855,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $305,632,276.20. The trade was a 35.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,737,500. This represents a 12.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 818,509 shares of company stock valued at $273,791,775. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optima Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 17.3% in the first quarter. Optima Capital LLC now owns 990 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 17.8% during the first quarter. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 951 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Tesla during the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 1248 Management LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. 1248 Management LLC now owns 2,311 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 57.0% in the 1st quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 785 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.