Howland Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Howland Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,913 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 185 shares during the period. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $773,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Hengehold Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 6,990 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,823,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Acropolis Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake 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 period. Finally, Prospect Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.3% in 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 during the period. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TSLA. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $250.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Tesla from $295.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $326.50.

Tesla Price Performance

Tesla stock opened at $336.51 on Thursday. Tesla, Inc. has a 52-week low of $138.80 and a 52-week high of $488.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $407.68 and a 200-day moving average of $306.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 164.96, a PEG ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

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%. As a group, analysts predict that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,903,716. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.06, for a total transaction of $39,792,803.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 85,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,095,100. This trade represents a 56.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 635,776 shares of company stock valued at $231,335,112 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

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.