Legal & General Group Plc Sells 5,318,641 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its position in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 24.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,258,842 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 5,318,641 shares during the period. Tesla accounts for 1.7% of Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Tesla were worth $6,565,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hengehold Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $544,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI lifted 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 lifted its position in Tesla by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,136,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Vista Finance LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 3,510 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Tesla from $195.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $320.00 to $275.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $388.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Tesla from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $312.65.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $239.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $305.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $324.24. Tesla, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The company has a market cap of $770.13 billion, a PE ratio of 117.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. Analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.04, for a total value of $43,162,255.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,400. This represents a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 370,228 shares of company stock valued at $122,791,123. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

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.