Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Invests $1.73 Million in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,662 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,727,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter worth $56,600,000. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 126.7% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 1,594 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 2,847 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Harvard Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at $8,158,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Tesla by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 322,300 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $130,158,000 after buying an additional 60,342 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $344.27 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $289.75 and a 200-day moving average of $334.35. The company has a market cap of $1.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 168.76, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.43. Tesla, Inc. has a one year low of $167.41 and a one year high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $19.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays lowered their target price on Tesla from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Tesla from $314.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $450.00 target price on shares of Tesla and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.97.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 91,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $357.39, for a total transaction of $32,732,635.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,463,220 shares in the company, valued at approximately $522,940,195.80. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, 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 866,393 shares of company stock worth $284,570,654 over the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.