Vicus Capital Takes Position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Vicus Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 812 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock, valued at approximately $328,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Tesla in the third quarter worth $29,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA purchased a new position in Tesla in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Tesla by 130.2% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 122 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Tesla during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Finley Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Tesla during the fourth quarter valued at about $64,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA opened at $355.84 on Tuesday. Tesla, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $138.80 and a fifty-two week high of $488.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $406.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $308.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 174.43, a P/E/G ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 2.34. 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 (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its 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 net margin of 7.26% and a return on equity of 10.31%. Analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim restated a “sell” rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho restated an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America lowered shares of Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $400.00 to $490.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Tesla from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $326.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Tesla

In other news, Director Kathleen Wilson-Thompson sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.54, for a total transaction of $35,254,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,903,716. This represents a 94.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robyn M. Denholm sold 112,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 85,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,095,100. The trade was a 56.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 523,386 shares of company stock valued at $195,995,200. 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.