Wright Investors Service Inc. Reduces Stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Wright Investors Service Inc. reduced its position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,173 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 1,497 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $3,522,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at $3,459,540,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Tesla by 180,125.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,851,778 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,307,602,000 after acquiring an additional 26,836,879 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 203.9% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 20,208,699 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $5,360,358,000 after purchasing an additional 13,558,882 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 25,990.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,202,806 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,541,273,000 after purchasing an additional 6,179,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 25,427,168 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,132,119,000 after purchasing an additional 5,292,464 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

NASDAQ TSLA traded down $4.70 on Thursday, reaching $150.75. 47,493,894 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 101,156,547. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $480.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.25, a P/E/G ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 2.39. Tesla, Inc. has a 12 month low of $148.70 and a 12 month high of $299.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $25.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.64 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 16.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total transaction of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,950. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.73, for a total value of $18,247,369.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,920,950. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 687 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.11, for a total value of $121,674.57. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 63,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,188,215.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 209,098 shares of company stock valued at $38,802,534 in the last three months. 25.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on TSLA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Tesla from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Edward Jones cut Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Tesla from $320.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and set a $195.00 price objective (down previously from $270.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Tesla from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $194.70.

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.