Balentine LLC Trims Stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Balentine LLC lessened its stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 95.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,163 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 22,650 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 4th quarter worth about $7,844,757,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Tesla by 21,816.0% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 5,902,416 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,167,970,000 after buying an additional 5,875,484 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,806,372 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $57,102,287,000 after buying an additional 3,866,361 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in Tesla by 2,101.1% during the fourth quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,469,190 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $365,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,402,443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Tesla by 12.9% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 9,849,425 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,731,430,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125,329 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on Tesla in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on Tesla from $274.00 to $258.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and issued a $134.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $209.03.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total value of $65,865.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Tesla news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,967,479.07. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 66,364 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.96, for a total transaction of $14,597,425.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,696,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 25.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA opened at $216.27 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $278.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $224.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $193.72. The firm has a market cap of $690.90 billion, a PE ratio of 55.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.57 and a beta of 2.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.10). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.41% and a net margin of 13.00%. The company had revenue of $25.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Tesla 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.