Clearbridge Investments LLC Purchases 394,673 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 25.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,932,700 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 394,673 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.06% of Tesla worth $780,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Horrell Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 193.3% during the 4th quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 over the last quarter. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TSLA. Roth Mkm upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $380.00 in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered their target price on Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Tesla from $492.00 to $474.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $318.34.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA opened at $263.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market cap of $847.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.19, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $321.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $322.34. Tesla, Inc. has a one year low of $138.80 and a one year high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced 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.

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.