Tesla, Inc. $TSLA Shares Purchased by Griffin Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Griffin Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Tesla, Inc. by 12% during the second quarter, now holding 5,478 shares valued at approximately $1.74 million.
• Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of Tesla stock, a transaction worth over $25 million, reducing his ownership by 8.61%.
• Tesla's recent earnings report revealed a quarterly revenue drop of 11.8% year-over-year, with earnings per share at $0.40, missing analyst estimates.

Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,478 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Tesla were worth $1,740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Merchants Corp grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.3% in the second quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 2,413 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $767,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. KWB Wealth grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.4% during the second quarter. KWB Wealth now owns 1,381 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 3.6% during the second quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 976 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.7% during the second quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,107 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $1,622,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acorn Creek Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.6% during the second quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 2,194 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.68, for a total transaction of $25,360,800.00. Following the sale, the director owned 637,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $269,260,263.08. This trade represents a 8.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total transaction of $918,302.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,473,057.28. This trade represents a 20.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 202,606 shares of company stock worth $75,588,902. 19.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Tesla Trading Up 5.4%

Shares of TSLA opened at $435.90 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm's 50-day moving average is $378.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $329.48. Tesla, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.11 and a twelve month high of $488.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a P/E 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 earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates 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 in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $483.00 target price on shares of Tesla and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Tesla from $235.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $363.03.

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.

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