Tesla, Inc. $TSLA Position Lowered by Jones Financial Companies Lllp

Key Points

• Jones Financial Companies Lllp significantly reduced its Tesla holdings by 66.8%, now owning 51,199 shares valued at approximately $13.27 million.
• Insiders have sold a total of 141,000 Tesla shares worth nearly $48.66 million over the last 90 days, including Director James R. Murdoch and CFO Vaibhav Taneja.
• Tesla's recent quarterly earnings revealed an EPS of $0.40, missing estimates, with revenue down by 11.8% year-over-year.

Jones Financial Companies Lllp lowered its stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 66.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,199 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after selling 102,930 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in Tesla were worth $13,269,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Tesla by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Acorn Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,901 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Solutions 4 Wealth Ltd lifted its stake in Tesla by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Solutions 4 Wealth Ltd now owns 1,815 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc lifted its stake in Tesla by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc now owns 1,166 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC lifted its stake in Tesla by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. Graney & King LLC now owns 245 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Tesla by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. now owns 1,054 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Tesla Trading Up 5.7%

Shares of TSLA traded up $21.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $389.99. The stock had a trading volume of 79,921,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 102,618,008. 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 $1.26 trillion, a P/E ratio of 225.14, a P/E/G ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 2.06. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $327.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $302.84. Tesla, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.11 and a 12-month high of $488.54.

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). Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on TSLA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Sunday, August 17th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group set a $290.00 price target on Tesla in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Tesla from $390.00 to $375.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, HSBC reissued a "reduce" rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and nine have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $303.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.38, for a total value of $918,302.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,473,057.28. This represents a 20.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.29, for a total value of $42,034,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 697,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $244,162,988.99. This represents a 14.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 128,606 shares of company stock valued at $44,724,662. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.