Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $403.84, but opened at $390.10. Tesla shares last traded at $386.25, with a volume of 36,929,964 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on TSLA. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Tesla from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Glj Research reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $24.86 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Tesla from $197.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $275.75.

Tesla Trading Down 5.6 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $357.16 and a 200 day moving average of $270.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 104.47, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.36.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total value of $975,191.26. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,868,508. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 514,886 shares of company stock worth $169,393,831. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1,248.9% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $52,124,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares in the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Tesla by 59.2% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $30,593,000 after acquiring an additional 43,685 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in Tesla by 3.3% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $80,944,000 after purchasing an additional 9,919 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Tesla by 1.2% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 144,482 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $37,801,000 after buying an additional 1,741 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is 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.