Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 47,878 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after buying an additional 5,620 shares during the period. Tesla makes up 1.3% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $19,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,356,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $15,469,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,589 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,473,008,000 after purchasing an additional 828,308 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,377,970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,763 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Tesla by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,325,850 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,996,871,000 after acquiring an additional 780,026 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Tesla by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 12,957,272 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $5,117,345,000 after acquiring an additional 159,508 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $248.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $799.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $335.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $319.68. Tesla, Inc. has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month 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.

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

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.63, for a total transaction of $41,163,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $2,222,802. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on TSLA shares. Glj Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Roth Capital raised shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Tesla from $500.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $318.93.

About Tesla

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.