Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Trims Stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lessened its stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 14.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,727 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 19,850 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $48,754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Tesla by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571,793 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $24,566,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655,203 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Tesla in the 4th quarter worth about $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after purchasing an additional 9,920,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Tesla by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,325,850 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,996,871,000 after buying an additional 780,026 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $383.11, for a total transaction of $2,681,770.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,745,581.15. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total transaction of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 374,228 shares of company stock worth $123,791,123. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

Tesla stock opened at $259.51 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $265.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $322.18. Tesla, Inc. has a 12 month low of $158.36 and a 12 month high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock 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.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Tesla from $314.00 to $307.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday. New Street Research raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Cfra Research downgraded shares of Tesla from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $375.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $287.46.

About Tesla

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.