Safeguard Financial LLC Cuts Stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Safeguard Financial LLC reduced its stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,932 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. Safeguard Financial LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $1,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of TSLA. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Clean Yield Group raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 60.0% during the third quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 168.8% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 263.2% during the third quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 138 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $428.22 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $382.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $284.69. Tesla, Inc. has a 52 week low of $138.80 and a 52 week high of $488.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 117.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 2.30.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. Tesla’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.02, for a total transaction of $34,602,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,868,508. The trade was a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,258,000. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 621,886 shares of company stock valued at $213,451,751. 20.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TSLA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $255.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $249.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $299.33.

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.