Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Tesla by 1.5%, holding approximately 246.9 million shares valued at about $63.98 billion, making Tesla the 12th largest holding in its portfolio.
• Insider trading activity saw Kimbal Musk sell 91,588 shares for approximately $32.73 million, representing a 5.89% decrease in his ownership, while CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 6,000 shares, a 75.47% decrease in his holdings.
• Tesla's stock experienced a 0.2% decline and reported a miss in earnings for the last quarter, with earnings per share of $0.40, lower than the expected $0.43, alongside a revenue drop of 11.8% year-over-year.

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 246,887,705 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after acquiring an additional 3,694,524 shares during the period. Tesla makes up about 1.2% of Vanguard Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 7.67% of Tesla worth $63,983,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $56,600,000. Means Investment CO. Inc. increased its holdings in Tesla by 37.7% during the 1st quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 23,089 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $5,984,000 after purchasing an additional 6,323 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 3.1% during the first quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 22,467 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $5,823,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 586,460 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $153,436,000 after buying an additional 46,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvard Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,158,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA traded up $11.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $319.91. The company had a trading volume of 78,040,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 91,306,952. Tesla, Inc. has a 1-year low of $191.48 and a 1-year high of $488.54. The firm's 50 day moving average is $319.80 and its 200-day moving average is $309.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 184.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.85 and a beta of 2.33.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $22.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The business's revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ira Matthew Ehrenpreis sold 477,572 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.30, for a total transaction of $170,636,475.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 855,394 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $305,632,276.20. This represents a 35.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 15,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.81, for a total value of $4,857,150.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 67,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,889,556. This trade represents a 18.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 606,724 shares of company stock worth $215,376,831. 20.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TSLA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Tesla from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BNP Paribas set a $137.00 target price on shares of Tesla and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $303.31.

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.