Polar Capital Holdings Plc Sells 39,786 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc lowered its stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 445,998 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after selling 39,786 shares during the period. Tesla accounts for 1.0% of Polar Capital Holdings Plc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Polar Capital Holdings Plc's holdings in Tesla were worth $180,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI grew its stake in Tesla by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 6,990 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,823,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $1,136,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Tesla by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,950,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 3,510 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on TSLA. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Tesla from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Tesla and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $289.43.

Tesla Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA traded up $7.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $349.98. 93,349,107 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 97,010,697. Tesla, Inc. has a 12-month low of $167.41 and a 12-month high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $267.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $329.59. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 171.56, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.43.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.02, for a total value of $1,776,120.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 23,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,833,325.68. This represents a 20.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 412,623 shares of company stock worth $115,600,501 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.