Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Buys 1,412 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 67.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,503 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,412 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $1,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,098,717 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $287,457,000 after acquiring an additional 29,669 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Tesla in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $403,000. D.B. Root & Company LLC boosted its position in Tesla by 36.2% in the third quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 4,094 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,071,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares in the last quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.1% during the third quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 14,277 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $3,735,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the third quarter worth $384,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ TSLA opened at $263.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $371.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $317.75. Tesla, Inc. has a 12-month low of $138.80 and a 12-month high of $488.54. The company has a market cap of $847.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 129.14, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total value of $718,046.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,242,273.50. This trade represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total transaction of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,400. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 422,452 shares of company stock worth $153,659,530. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on TSLA shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Tesla from $315.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $313.15.

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.