Flputnam Investment Management Co. Increases Position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,140 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $2,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Tesla in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA bought a new stake in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in shares of Tesla by 130.2% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 122 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Finley Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total value of $975,191.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,775,792.65. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.87, for a total transaction of $27,590,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,463,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $538,274,741.40. The trade was a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 403,996 shares of company stock worth $153,721,387. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Up 4.0 %

TSLA stock opened at $293.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. Tesla, Inc. has a 52-week low of $138.80 and a 52-week high of $488.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $385.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $317.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $943.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.34.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TSLA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America lowered Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $400.00 to $490.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com lowered Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Phillip Securities lowered Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $318.77.

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.