Empire Life Investments Inc. Purchases Shares of 5,646 Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Empire Life Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 5,646 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,280,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,136,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,950,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospect Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC now owns 7,500 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $3,029,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of TSLA opened at $354.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.61. Tesla, Inc. has a 1-year low of $138.80 and a 1-year high of $488.54. The company has a market capitalization of $1.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 173.58, a P/E/G ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $405.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $309.75.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted 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 return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on TSLA. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Roth Capital upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. New Street Research upgraded Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $460.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Glj Research reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $24.86 price target on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $326.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Tesla news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.06, for a total value of $39,792,803.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,095,100. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total value of $35,254,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,903,716. This trade represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 523,386 shares of company stock valued at $195,995,200 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

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.