Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,649 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 996 shares during the quarter. Tesla makes up approximately 1.5% of Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $5,511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Tesla by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $98,211,134,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571,793 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Tesla by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,356,401 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $15,469,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,589 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 3.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,741,075 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,473,008,000 after purchasing an additional 828,308 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Tesla by 13.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 24,377,822 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $6,377,970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Tesla by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,325,850 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $6,996,871,000 after buying an additional 780,026 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $278.39 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $332.69 and a 200-day moving average of $321.49. The firm has a market cap of $895.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 136.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla, Inc. has a twelve month low of $138.80 and a twelve month high of $488.54.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the transaction, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043 in the last three months. 20.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on TSLA shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $404.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “cautious” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $318.93.

About Tesla

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.