Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Reduces Holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 46.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,567 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after selling 7,571 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Tesla were worth $2,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TSLA. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 193.3% in the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $682,500. This trade represents a 33.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ira Matthew Ehrenpreis sold 477,572 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 now owns 855,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $305,632,276.20. This represents a 35.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 818,509 shares of company stock worth $273,791,775. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Tesla Trading Up 1.9%

TSLA traded up $6.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $325.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 128,417,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 100,836,055. Tesla, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $177.00 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The business's 50-day moving average is $299.39 and its 200-day moving average is $332.88. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 159.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TSLA has been the topic of several research reports. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Cfra Research cut Tesla from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Tesla from $420.00 to $345.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Tesla from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $293.67.

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.