Empirical Finance LLC Buys 2,974 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA - Free Report) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,282 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock after purchasing an additional 2,974 shares during the quarter. Tesla makes up about 1.2% of Empirical Finance LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Empirical Finance LLC's holdings in Tesla were worth $21,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Tesla in the second quarter worth $26,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 168.8% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Tesla during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group raised its position in shares of Tesla by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 128 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 67,491 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. This represents a 0.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 4,000 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.00, for a total value of $1,400,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 105,032 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,761,200. The trade was a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 188,797 shares of company stock valued at $57,616,781 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 20.70% of the company's stock.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of TSLA stock traded up $9.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $320.72. The stock had a trading volume of 114,160,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 96,026,047. Tesla, Inc. has a one year low of $138.80 and a one year high of $358.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $250.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.49, a PEG ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 2.29.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $25.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.47 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 13.07%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.99 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on TSLA. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Tesla from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Tesla from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Tesla from $265.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $230.18.

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.