Davis R M Inc. Sells 290 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Davis R M Inc. lessened its position in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,815 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 290 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $2,348,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Clare Market Investments LLC bought a new stake in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $8,513,000. Vista Investment Partners II LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $631,000. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 117,176 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $47,320,000 after acquiring an additional 18,172 shares during the period. Altiora Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Altiora Financial Group LLC now owns 2,246 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $907,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Tesla by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,947 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,242,273.50. This trade represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $2,222,802. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 422,452 shares of company stock worth $153,659,530. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ TSLA opened at $230.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $741.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.03, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla, Inc. has a twelve month low of $138.80 and a twelve month high of $488.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $360.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $319.53.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. Sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TSLA. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $404.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho restated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Capital upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Glj Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $326.43.

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.