Meritage Portfolio Management Takes Position in Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Key Points

• Meritage Portfolio Management has acquired a new stake in Tesla, purchasing 637 shares valued at approximately $202,000 in Q2.
• Wall Street analysts have raised Tesla's stock ratings and price targets, with Robert W. Baird upgrading it to "outperform" and setting a target of $548.00.
• Insider selling activity includes SVP Xiaotong Zhu selling 20,000 shares worth $7.28 million, reducing their stake by 29.59%.

Meritage Portfolio Management acquired a new stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 637 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 86.3% during the 1st quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 95 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank lifted its holdings in Tesla by 79.2% during the 1st quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Newton One Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 250.0% during the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 105 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI acquired a new stake in Tesla during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Chelsea Counsel Co. lifted its holdings in Tesla by 59.7% during the 1st quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 107 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TSLA has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird raised Tesla from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $548.00 in a report on Friday, September 19th. Baird R W upgraded Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Tesla from $374.00 to $509.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. HSBC raised their price objective on Tesla from $120.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Melius Research set a $520.00 price objective on Tesla and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and eight have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $363.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total transaction of $7,275,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at $17,314,500. The trade was a 29.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $269,260,263.08. This represents a 8.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 202,606 shares of company stock worth $75,588,902 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 19.90% of the company's stock.

Tesla Trading Up 5.4%

Shares of TSLA opened at $435.90 on Tuesday. Tesla, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.11 and a 52-week high of $488.54. The business's fifty day moving average is $378.50 and its 200-day moving average is $329.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 251.97, a PEG ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 2.08.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The business had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate 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.

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