Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 19,850 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC reduced its stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,727 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 19,850 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $48,754,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Topsail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Keyvantage Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at $1,080,000. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 39.6% in the 4th quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,846 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $745,000 after buying an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its stake in Tesla by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 49,847 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $20,130,000 after acquiring an additional 3,147 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Springs Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the 4th quarter valued at about $364,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $259.51 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $834.72 billion, a PE ratio of 127.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $265.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $322.18. Tesla, Inc. has a 52 week low of $158.36 and a 52 week high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $383.11, for a total value of $2,681,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $41,745,581.15. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,643,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 374,228 shares of company stock worth $123,791,123 over the last quarter. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSLA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Tesla from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $450.00 price objective on Tesla and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased 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. Finally, Roth Mkm cut their price target on Tesla from $450.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $287.46.

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.