Norges Bank Takes Position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 35,707,824 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock, valued at approximately $14,420,248,000. Tesla comprises approximately 1.9% of Norges Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Norges Bank owned about 1.11% of Tesla at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TSLA. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Tesla by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. GS Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Tesla by 193.3% during the 4th quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC bought a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 in the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on TSLA. Roth Mkm upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $318.93.

Tesla Stock Performance

Tesla stock opened at $272.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $875.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 133.36, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $327.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $321.69.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.