Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 18,171 Shares of Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 30.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,109 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,171 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $24,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 86.3% during the 1st quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 95 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank raised its stake in Tesla by 79.2% during the first quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 95 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Newton One Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 250.0% in the 1st quarter. Newton One Investments LLC now owns 105 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Chelsea Counsel Co. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 59.7% during the 1st quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 107 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on TSLA shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on Tesla from $305.00 to $341.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $120.00 to $127.00 in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Wedbush upped their target price on Tesla from $500.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Glj Research reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $344.40.

Tesla Trading Up 5.4%

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA opened at $453.25 on Tuesday. Tesla, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.11 and a twelve month high of $488.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 261.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.93 and a beta of 2.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $366.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $22.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.18 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 6.54% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.75, for a total transaction of $7,275,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,314,500. This trade represents a 29.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.68, for a total value of $25,360,800.00. Following the sale, the director owned 637,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $269,260,263.08. This represents a 8.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 202,606 shares of company stock worth $75,588,902. 19.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.