Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,093,572 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,518 shares during the period. Tesla makes up 1.3% of Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $441,628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,650,393 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $955,052,000 after purchasing an additional 194,796 shares during the period. United Bank purchased a new stake in Tesla during the third quarter valued at about $287,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the third quarter worth about $687,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of Tesla by 34.1% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 50,899 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,317,000 after acquiring an additional 12,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Wealth Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 92.8% during the third quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 4,925 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after acquiring an additional 2,371 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on TSLA. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Tesla from $440.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $319.12.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $273.13 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $324.59 and its 200-day moving average is $321.35. The company has a market cap of $878.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 133.89, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. Tesla, Inc. has a 52-week low of $138.80 and a 52-week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued 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 research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total value of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.