WBI Investments LLC Increases Stock Position in Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

WBI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 404.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,978 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,388 shares during the quarter. WBI Investments LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Means Investment CO. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 37.7% in the first quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 23,089 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $5,984,000 after buying an additional 6,323 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 3.1% in the first quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 22,467 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $5,823,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 6.9% in the first quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 12,748 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,304,000 after buying an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the first quarter worth approximately $594,000. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 8.5% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 586,460 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $153,436,000 after buying an additional 46,087 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Trading Up 0.2%

Tesla stock opened at $347.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 201.03, a PEG ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 2.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.55. Tesla, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.11 and a 1 year high of $488.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $326.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $302.57.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on TSLA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Tesla from $303.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 target price (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and nine have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $303.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total value of $42,034,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 697,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,162,988.99. This trade represents a 14.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.89, for a total transaction of $1,171,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 5,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,735,080.36. This trade represents a 40.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 128,606 shares of company stock valued at $44,724,662. 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.