Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 2.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,421 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after buying an additional 532 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $7,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Tesla by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $98,211,134,000 after buying an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $24,566,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655,203 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Tesla by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $11,541,592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075,418 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on TSLA. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Raymond James lowered Tesla to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on Tesla from $325.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,395 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.12, for a total transaction of $30,809,717.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,300,200. This trade represents a 56.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,737,500. The trade was a 12.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 818,509 shares of company stock valued at $273,791,775. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

TSLA stock opened at $326.43 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 160.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.47. Tesla, Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.80 and a 52-week high of $488.54. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $295.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $333.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $19.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Tesla Company 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.