Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stake Raised by Essex LLC

Essex LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 21.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,093 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. Essex LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in Tesla by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 2,489 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 28.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 896,484 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $221,677,000 after buying an additional 197,839 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.8% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,098,717 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $287,457,000 after buying an additional 29,669 shares in the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Tesla by 4.0% during the third quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,056 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $9,433,000 after buying an additional 1,380 shares during the period. Finally, First United Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Tesla by 222.3% in the 3rd quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 1,776 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TSLA. Barclays lifted their price target on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. New Street Research raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $326.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total transaction of $27,590,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,463,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $538,274,741.40. This trade represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total transaction of $35,339,911.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,727,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 635,776 shares of company stock worth $231,335,112. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

TSLA opened at $336.51 on Thursday. Tesla, Inc. has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54. The business has a 50 day moving average of $407.68 and a 200-day moving average of $306.23. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 164.96, a PEG ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current 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.