Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 67,380,000 shares, a decrease of 16.6% from the December 15th total of 80,770,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 92,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on TSLA shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Glj Research restated a “sell” rating and set a $24.86 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Bank of America cut Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $400.00 to $490.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

Tesla Stock Performance

Tesla stock traded up $12.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $426.50. The company had a trading volume of 94,422,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 80,357,656. The company has a 50 day moving average of $389.94 and a 200-day moving average of $288.09. Tesla has a 52 week low of $138.80 and a 52 week high of $488.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $1.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.85, a PEG ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 2.30.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The business had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Tesla will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total value of $41,163,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $2,222,802. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $26,258,000. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 621,886 shares of company stock worth $213,451,751. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 35,611.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 11,054,391 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,892,160,000 after acquiring an additional 11,023,436 shares during the period. Clean Energy Transition LLP raised its position in Tesla by 347.7% in the second quarter. Clean Energy Transition LLP now owns 4,818,600 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $953,505,000 after purchasing an additional 6,764,300 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Tesla by 194.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,486,739 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,215,765,000 after purchasing an additional 3,624,910 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 13.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,377,970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 52.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,344,526 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,921,548,000 after purchasing an additional 2,511,488 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

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.