Sterling Investment Advisors LLC ADV Makes New Investment in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Sterling Investment Advisors LLC ADV bought a new stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 599 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Acropolis Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,950,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Connable Office Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 12,872 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,368,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. grew its position in Tesla by 4.4% during the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 908 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Holistic Financial Partners raised its position in Tesla by 1.0% in the third quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 4,055 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,061,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $413.82 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $385.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $285.69. Tesla, Inc. has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 113.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 2.30.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $25.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. Tesla’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.44, for a total transaction of $35,339,911.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $26,727,400. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.21, for a total value of $975,191.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $40,775,792.65. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 621,886 shares of company stock valued at $213,451,751. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TSLA. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and set a $124.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Tesla from $249.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Tesla from $298.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America downgraded Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $400.00 to $490.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Tesla from $156.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

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.