Birinyi Associates Inc. Sells 378 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Birinyi Associates Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 20.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,500 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 378 shares during the quarter. Birinyi Associates Inc.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 1,248.9% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 199,229 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $52,124,000 after purchasing an additional 184,459 shares during the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 12,597 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 126.7% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 1,594 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 59.2% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 117,457 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $30,593,000 after buying an additional 43,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in Tesla by 3.3% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 309,382 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $80,944,000 after buying an additional 9,919 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on TSLA shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $226.00 to $259.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Glj Research reissued a “sell” rating and set a $24.86 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Tesla from $195.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Benchmark began coverage on Tesla in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $475.00 target price on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $319.57.

Insider Activity

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.43, for a total value of $2,481,010.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares in the company, valued at $37,226,491.76. The trade was a 6.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total transaction of $35,254,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,903,716. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 523,386 shares of company stock worth $195,995,200. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $281.95 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $387.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $315.28. The company has a market capitalization of $906.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 138.21, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla, Inc. has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. On average, analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.