Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Boosts Stock Position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 104.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 850 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TSLA. AA Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Tesla during the first quarter worth $4,056,000. Pictet North America Advisors SA purchased a new position in Tesla during the first quarter worth $425,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 5.6% during the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,589 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,682,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Tesla during the first quarter worth $601,000. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 60.2% during the first quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,854,198 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $501,654,000 after buying an additional 1,072,366 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TSLA. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $126.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Tesla from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Tesla from $293.00 to $227.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $195.06.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.86, for a total transaction of $17,322,306.30. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,772,900. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.21, for a total value of $113,236.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 65,155 shares in the company, valued at $11,350,652.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.86, for a total value of $17,322,306.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,772,900. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 20.90% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of TSLA stock traded up $3.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $265.42. 81,819,889 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 98,313,859. Tesla, Inc. has a 1 year low of $138.80 and a 1 year high of $299.29. The stock has a market cap of $846.48 billion, a PE ratio of 66.64, a PEG ratio of 6.27 and a beta of 2.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $188.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $190.90.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. Tesla had a return on equity of 13.18% and a net margin of 14.37%. The business had revenue of $21.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.15 billion. Research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.86 EPS for the current 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.