Ballast Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Ballast Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,081 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 146 shares during the quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $1,614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Siren L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Tesla during the 1st quarter worth $2,332,000. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 6.9% during the first quarter. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC now owns 12,748 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,304,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares in the last quarter. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 1st quarter valued at about $594,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 1st quarter valued at about $205,495,000. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its stake in Tesla by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 586,460 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $153,436,000 after buying an additional 46,087 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other Tesla news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.68, for a total transaction of $25,360,800.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 637,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $269,260,263.08. The trade was a 8.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 47,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,314,500. This represents a 29.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 202,606 shares of company stock valued at $75,588,902. 19.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TSLA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $320.00 to $548.00 in a report on Friday, September 19th. Barclays reiterated a “negative” rating and set a $350.00 price target (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday. Finally, DZ Bank restated a “sell” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and eleven have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $381.70.

Tesla Trading Down 3.4%

NASDAQ TSLA opened at $433.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 289.15, a P/E/G ratio of 15.59 and a beta of 2.08. Tesla, Inc. has a 52-week low of $214.25 and a 52-week high of $488.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $398.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $340.74.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.98 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Equities research analysts expect 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.