Vest Financial LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 39.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,151 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after acquiring an additional 8,217 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in Tesla were worth $9,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Means Investment CO. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tesla by 37.7% during the first quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 23,089 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $5,984,000 after acquiring an additional 6,323 shares in the last quarter. Siren L.L.C. acquired a new position in Tesla in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,332,000. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 12,748 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $3,304,000 after buying an additional 826 shares during the period. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in Tesla in the 1st quarter worth approximately $594,000. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Tesla in the 1st quarter worth approximately $205,495,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total value of $7,275,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 47,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,314,500. This trade represents a 29.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the firm's 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,473,057.28. This trade represents a 20.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 202,606 shares of company stock worth $75,588,902. Corporate insiders own 19.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Tesla from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $548.00 in a report on Friday, September 19th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Sunday, July 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $483.00 price objective on Tesla and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $363.03.

Tesla Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $429.24 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $380.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $330.17. 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 capitalization of $1.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 248.12, a PEG ratio of 15.71 and a beta of 2.08. Tesla, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.11 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54.

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 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 analysts' expectations of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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