First Dallas Securities Inc. Purchases New Stake in Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Key Points

• First Dallas Securities Inc. has acquired a new position in Tesla, purchasing 1,240 shares valued at approximately $321,000 during the first quarter.
• Tesla's recent earnings report revealed a missing consensus estimate with earnings per share of $0.40, compared to expectations of $0.43, and a revenue decline of 11.8% year-over-year.
• Institutional investors now own 66.20% of Tesla’s stock, with several investors significantly increasing their positions in the first quarter.

First Dallas Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,240 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Means Investment CO. Inc. raised its position in Tesla by 37.7% during the 1st 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. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 22,467 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $5,823,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares during the period. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 12,748 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $3,304,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the period. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the 1st quarter worth $594,000. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 586,460 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $153,436,000 after purchasing an additional 46,087 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total transaction of $42,034,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 697,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $244,162,988.99. The trade was a 14.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total transaction of $4,857,150.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 67,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,889,556. The trade was a 18.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,606 shares of company stock valued at $49,581,812 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Tesla Trading Up 0.2%

TSLA stock traded up $0.82 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $347.79. 71,648,221 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 102,792,906. The company has a market capitalization of $1.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 201.03, a PEG ratio of 12.08 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 fifty-two week low of $212.11 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $325.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $302.26.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TSLA. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Tesla from $305.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Argus reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $303.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and nine have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $303.00.

About Tesla

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.