Welch Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Welch Group LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 29.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,115 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC's holdings in Tesla were worth $821,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TSLA. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 79.5% during the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 70 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Tesla by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. grew its position in Tesla by 193.3% in the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on TSLA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Tesla from $404.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BNP Paribas set a $137.00 target price on Tesla and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Tesla from $370.00 to $320.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $293.97.

Tesla Price Performance

TSLA stock traded down $9.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $349.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 122,996,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 98,033,976. Tesla, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $167.41 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 171.12, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.43. The company's 50 day moving average is $286.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $333.95.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $19.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.02, for a total transaction of $1,776,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,084 shares in the company, valued at $6,833,325.68. This trade represents a 20.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company's stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 984,783 shares of company stock valued at $320,019,942 over the last 90 days. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company 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.