Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 67.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,503 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,412 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $1,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Tesla during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 130.2% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 122 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Finley Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the fourth quarter worth about $64,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,400. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 422,452 shares of company stock worth $153,659,530 in the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Tesla Stock Down 5.6 %

TSLA opened at $263.45 on Friday. Tesla, Inc. has a twelve month low of $138.80 and a twelve month high of $488.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $371.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $317.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $847.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.14, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on TSLA shares. Roth Capital upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $313.15.

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.