Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Up 3.2% – Time to Buy?

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price shot up 3.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $234.13 and last traded at $232.58. 36,974,477 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 90,591,108 shares. The stock had previously closed at $225.31.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on TSLA. Glj Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Tesla from $500.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $318.93.

Tesla Trading Up 1.4 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $338.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $319.44. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $769.54 billion, a PE ratio of 115.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (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%. Equities analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,802. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 over the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 193.3% during the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. 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.