First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Sells 13,251 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lessened its position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 20.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,359 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after selling 13,251 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Tesla were worth $13,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Sherman Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Sherman Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,966 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC grew its position in Tesla by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 25 LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the 1st quarter valued at $590,000. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,987 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,961 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $6,210,000 after buying an additional 2,307 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,564 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.71, for a total transaction of $732,560.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,924 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,692,546.04. The trade was a 30.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Ira Matthew Ehrenpreis sold 477,572 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.30, for a total value of $170,636,475.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 855,394 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $305,632,276.20. This represents a 35.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 818,509 shares of company stock valued at $273,791,775 in the last quarter. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on TSLA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Tesla from $404.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen raised shares of Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Tesla from $420.00 to $345.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $293.67.

Tesla Price Performance

NASDAQ TSLA traded down $7.32 on Thursday, reaching $319.11. The company had a trading volume of 104,392,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 100,677,591. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 156.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.47. Tesla, Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.80 and a 12 month high of $488.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $295.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $333.11.

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