Liberty Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 718 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 692.6% during the third quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 214 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finley Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at about $64,000. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 136.4% during the third quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 305 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Tesla Stock Performance

TSLA opened at $355.94 on Friday. Tesla, Inc. has a 52-week low of $138.80 and a 52-week 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 company has a market cap of $1.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 174.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $407.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $306.44.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on TSLA shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. New Street Research raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $226.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $326.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,903,716. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 6.25 % 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. 20.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.