United Bank Grows Holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

United Bank lifted its stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,322 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. United Bank’s holdings in Tesla were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 75.6% in the 4th 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 period. GS Investments Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA purchased a new position in Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total value of $718,046.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSLA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com cut Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded 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. Nine 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $318.34.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $263.55 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $847.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla, Inc. has a 52 week low of $138.80 and a 52 week high of $488.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $321.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $322.34.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share 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.