Conning Inc. Has $6.89 Million Stock Position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Conning Inc. increased its stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,057 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $6,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finley Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $64,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 692.6% in the 3rd quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 214 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $91,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on TSLA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Roth Capital upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America lowered Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $400.00 to $490.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $321.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.06, for a total transaction of $39,792,803.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $30,095,100. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.43, for a total value of $2,481,010.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $37,226,491.76. The trade was a 6.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 635,776 shares of company stock worth $231,335,112 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Down 6.3 %

TSLA opened at $328.50 on Wednesday. Tesla, Inc. has a 1-year low of $138.80 and a 1-year high of $488.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $408.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $305.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 161.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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.