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

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

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 193.3% during the 4th quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 88 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA acquired a new stake in Tesla during the 4th quarter worth $46,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TSLA has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Tesla from $430.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Glj Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Tesla from $500.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $404.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.93.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total value of $2,894,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock worth $166,849,043. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

Tesla stock opened at $278.39 on Tuesday. 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 12 month low of $138.80 and a 12 month high of $488.54. The company 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $332.69 and its 200-day moving average is $321.49.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.08). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.31% and a net margin of 7.26%. Equities analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.