Moody National Bank Trust Division Boosts Stake in Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Key Points

• Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its stake in Tesla, Inc. by 9.5%, acquiring 2,368 additional shares, and now holds a total of 27,300 shares, valued at approximately $8.67 million.
• Insider trading activity included substantial sales, with SVP Xiaotong Zhu selling 20,000 shares for $7.28 million and CFO Vaibhav Taneja selling 4,000 shares worth $1.17 million.
• Despite reaching a market capitalization of $1.34 trillion, Tesla missed earnings expectations for the last quarter, reporting an EPS of $0.40, below the $0.43 consensus estimate.

Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,300 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after acquiring an additional 2,368 shares during the quarter. Tesla makes up approximately 0.8% of Moody National Bank Trust Division's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Moody National Bank Trust Division's holdings in Tesla were worth $8,672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Tesla by 322.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 26,590,525 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $6,891,201,000 after purchasing an additional 20,291,139 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,247,619,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 27,378.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,812,316 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,542,960,000 after purchasing an additional 9,776,607 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 29.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 16,771,882 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $4,482,789,000 after acquiring an additional 3,814,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 246,887,705 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $63,983,418,000 after buying an additional 3,694,524 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA traded up $9.22 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $426.07. 92,721,496 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 86,324,392. The company has a market cap of $1.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 246.28, a P/E/G ratio of 14.54 and a beta of 2.06. Tesla, Inc. has a one year low of $212.11 and a one year high of $488.54. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $340.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $308.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.04.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 6.54%.The company's quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total transaction of $42,034,800.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 697,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at $244,162,988.99. This represents a 14.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total value of $7,275,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at $17,314,500. This trade represents a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 208,606 shares of company stock valued at $77,360,462 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on TSLA shares. Baird R W cut Tesla from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $475.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Tesla from $390.00 to $375.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $440.00 price objective on Tesla in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $410.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and nine have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $317.70.

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.