Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 2.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,861 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Tesla makes up about 1.2% of Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $2,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Siren L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 1st quarter worth about $2,332,000. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 12,748 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,304,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 1st quarter valued at about $594,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 1st quarter valued at about $205,495,000. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 586,460 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $153,436,000 after purchasing an additional 46,087 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $433.72 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $398.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $339.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 289.15, a PEG ratio of 16.13 and a beta of 2.08. Tesla, Inc. has a 12 month low of $214.25 and a 12 month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The company had revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total transaction of $918,302.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,473,057.28. This trade represents a 20.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total value of $42,034,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 697,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $244,162,988.99. This represents a 14.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902 over the last 90 days. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on TSLA shares. Daiwa Capital Markets reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Sunday, July 27th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $307.00 target price on the stock. Melius Research set a $520.00 target price on Tesla and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Tesla from $300.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and eleven have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $380.03.

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.