Merriman Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Merriman Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,349 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after buying an additional 728 shares during the period. Merriman Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $2,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 233,602,120 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $41,064,917,000 after purchasing an additional 3,795,748 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in Tesla by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 9,849,425 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,731,430,000 after buying an additional 1,125,329 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 21,816.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 5,902,416 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,167,970,000 after acquiring an additional 5,875,484 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 2.6% in the second quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 5,314,395 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,051,613,000 after acquiring an additional 135,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 9.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,959,699 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $981,443,000 after acquiring an additional 412,872 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Down 2.3 %

TSLA opened at $238.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $759.83 billion, a PE ratio of 60.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.91. Tesla, Inc. has a 1 year low of $138.80 and a 1 year high of $271.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $221.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $195.84.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.10). Tesla had a return on equity of 10.41% and a net margin of 13.00%. The business had revenue of $25.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. Tesla’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 66,364 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.96, for a total value of $14,597,425.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at $18,696,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 66,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.96, for a total value of $14,597,425.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,696,600. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Xiaotong Zhu sold 297 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.77, for a total transaction of $65,865.69. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 67,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,967,479.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 25.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TSLA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research started coverage on Tesla in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Mizuho boosted their target price on Tesla from $180.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Tesla from $227.00 to $224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, William Blair began coverage on shares of Tesla in a report on Thursday, August 29th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $209.60.

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.