Blueprint Investment Partners LLC Increases Position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Blueprint Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 86.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,248 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,983 shares during the period. Tesla comprises about 1.1% of Blueprint Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $6,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,098,717 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $287,457,000 after buying an additional 29,669 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 5.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,650,393 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $955,052,000 after purchasing an additional 194,796 shares in the last quarter. United Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the third quarter valued at approximately $287,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,972 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,347,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $280,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,672 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.73, for a total transaction of $718,046.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 26,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,242,273.50. This represents a 9.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total transaction of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Trading Up 5.3 %

Shares of TSLA opened at $248.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. Tesla, Inc. has a one year low of $138.80 and a one year high of $488.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $335.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.44. The company has a market capitalization of $799.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.92, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 earnings per share 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 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on TSLA shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Tesla from $440.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $388.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price target on Tesla from $175.00 to $170.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Tesla has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.93.

Tesla 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.