Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Down 2.3% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) dropped 2.3% during trading on Thursday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft now has a $123.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $189.00. Tesla traded as low as $148.70 and last traded at $151.91. Approximately 40,563,556 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 101,070,063 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.45.

Several other analysts have also commented on TSLA. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $320.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. KGI Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $213.00 price target (down from $309.00) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $194.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.20, for a total value of $1,850,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,502,726. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total value of $18,247,369.38. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,920,950. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.20, for a total transaction of $1,850,100.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 31,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,502,726. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 209,098 shares of company stock valued at $38,802,534. Company insiders own 25.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Tesla by 1.7% during the fourth 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 lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 685,454 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at $7,844,757,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Tesla by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 30,160,747 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,546,823,000 after purchasing an additional 2,177,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,040,734 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $7,266,572,000 after purchasing an additional 269,182 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Stock Down 3.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $477.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 2.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $179.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.21.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 16.62%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.