Sapient Capital LLC Buys 5,973 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Sapient Capital LLC raised its position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 49.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,027 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after acquiring an additional 5,973 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC's holdings in Tesla were worth $4,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vista Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 3,510 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $1,417,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Jmac Enterprises LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 3,884 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. TFB Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 5,213 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,969 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,166 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $875,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TSLA. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $410.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Cfra Research lowered Tesla from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Tesla from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $293.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ira Matthew Ehrenpreis sold 477,572 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $305,632,276.20. This trade represents a 35.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,737,500. This trade represents a 12.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 818,509 shares of company stock worth $273,791,775. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA traded up $6.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $325.31. The company had a trading volume of 128,417,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 100,836,055. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 159.47, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.47. Tesla, Inc. has a 12 month low of $177.00 and a 12 month high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $299.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $332.88.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. The business had revenue of $19.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Tesla Company 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.