Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Purchases 165,744 Shares of Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Key Points

• Harvest Portfolios Group boosted its Tesla stake by 107.8% in Q2, acquiring 165,744 shares to hold 319,450 shares worth about $101.48 million, making Tesla ~2.4% of its portfolio and its 7th largest position.
• Notable insider selling has occurred recently — executives and directors sold a combined 202,606 shares (~$75.6 million) in the past 90 days (including 20,000 by SVP Xiaotong Zhu and 60,000 by Director James Murdoch) while institutional investors own about 66.2% and insiders 19.9% of the stock.
• Analyst views are mixed: the consensus rating is a Hold with a $391.08 target, but individual price targets vary widely (examples include Wedbush $600, President Capital $529 and JPMorgan $150) and ratings span Strong Buy to Sell.

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 107.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 319,450 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after acquiring an additional 165,744 shares during the quarter. Tesla comprises approximately 2.4% of Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.'s holdings in Tesla were worth $101,476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Tesla in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 59.7% during the first quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 107 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Tesla by 270.0% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 111 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in Tesla during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 136 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TSLA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. President Capital boosted their target price on Tesla from $373.00 to $529.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. DZ Bank reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $307.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $115.00 to $150.00 in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and eleven have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $391.08.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total value of $7,275,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at $17,314,500. This represents a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.68, for a total value of $25,360,800.00. Following the sale, the director owned 637,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $269,260,263.08. This represents a 8.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902. 19.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Tesla Price Performance

Tesla stock opened at $445.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 297.27, a P/E/G ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 2.06. Tesla, Inc. has a 52 week low of $214.25 and a 52 week high of $488.54. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $419.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $353.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $28.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $24.98 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 5.51% and a return on equity of 6.61%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TSLA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.