Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. Acquires New Position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,363 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock, valued at approximately $550,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 6,990 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,823,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Acropolis Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,950,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 3,510 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,400. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 422,452 shares of company stock worth $153,659,530 over the last ninety days. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Tesla Stock Performance

TSLA stock opened at $222.15 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $714.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.90, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. Tesla, Inc. has a 1 year low of $138.80 and a 1 year high of $488.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $363.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $319.46.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results 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, research analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on TSLA. Glj Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $270.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Tesla from a “moderate sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $326.31.

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.