ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 47.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,002 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,564 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $1,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Tesla by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,940 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,724,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 4.6% during the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 32,230 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $8,065,000 after buying an additional 1,405 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 3.7% during the third quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 728,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $182,352,000 after buying an additional 25,943 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Tesla by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 776,765 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $193,935,000 after buying an additional 81,729 shares during the period. Finally, First National Corp MA ADV boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. First National Corp MA ADV now owns 1,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.44, for a total value of $16,439,605.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,631,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 93,705 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.44, for a total value of $16,439,605.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,631,600. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Andrew D. Baglino sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.20, for a total transaction of $1,850,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 31,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,502,726. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 209,098 shares of company stock worth $38,802,534 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 25.10% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of TSLA stock traded down $2.88 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $147.05. The stock had a trading volume of 86,914,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 101,650,617. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.25. Tesla, Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.22 and a twelve month high of $299.29. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $178.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $468.32 billion, a PE ratio of 34.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 2.39.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.03). Tesla had a return on equity of 16.62% and a net margin of 15.50%. The firm had revenue of $25.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on TSLA shares. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday. KGI Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $213.00 target price (down from $309.00) on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Tesla from $225.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Tesla from $143.00 to $138.00 and set a “reduce” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Tesla from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $194.70.

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.