Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 120,727 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after selling 19,850 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Tesla were worth $48,754,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of TSLA. Horrell Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Tesla by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 79 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Tesla by 193.3% in the fourth quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Tesla in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. 66.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 26,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. This trade represents a 9.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares in the company, valued at $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 374,228 shares of company stock valued at $123,791,123. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on TSLA. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $325.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Raymond James cut shares of Tesla to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Glj Research reiterated a "sell" rating and issued a $19.05 price objective (down from $24.86) on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, April 21st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, New Street Research upgraded shares of Tesla from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $287.46.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA traded up $0.93 on Monday, hitting $285.88. 150,603,892 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 108,010,094. Tesla, Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.41 and a 1-year high of $488.54. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $263.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $323.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $919.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.58.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $19.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.93 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

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.