Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Sells 31,647 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. significantly reduced its stake in Tesla, Inc. by 78.5% in Q1, bringing its holdings down to 8,682 shares valued at $2.25 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Susquehanna Fundamental Investments and Harvard Management Co., have adjusted their positions in Tesla, demonstrating increased interest from various funds.
• Despite recent insider sales of Tesla stock totaling 719,119 shares valued over $246 million, analysts have mixed ratings on the stock, with ten recommending a sell and an average target price of $303.31.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 78.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,682 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after selling 31,647 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Tesla were worth $2,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $13,997,660,000 after acquiring an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Tesla by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,536,519 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $9,908,828,000 after buying an additional 158,697 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 13,109,178 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $5,294,010,000 after buying an additional 2,170,449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,575,114 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $5,078,334,000 after buying an additional 774,383 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Trading Down 0.9%

TSLA traded down $2.74 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $306.52. 18,842,501 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 107,078,453. The firm has a market capitalization of $988.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 176.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.63 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $321.62 and a 200 day moving average of $309.49. Tesla, Inc. has a 12-month low of $191.48 and a 12-month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.03). Tesla had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 6.54%. The company had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $23.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $475.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $450.00 price target on shares of Tesla and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $305.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Glj Research reaffirmed a "sell" rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of Tesla from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $303.31.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, Director Ira Matthew Ehrenpreis sold 477,572 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were 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 directly owned 855,394 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $305,632,276.20. This trade represents a 35.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 91,588 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.39, for a total transaction of $32,732,635.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,463,220 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $522,940,195.80. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 606,724 shares of company stock valued at $215,376,831. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.