Merriman Wealth Management LLC Purchases 728 Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Merriman Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,349 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after purchasing an additional 728 shares during the quarter. Merriman Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $2,641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Integris Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Integris Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,065 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $804,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Echo Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Echo Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,474 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,281,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its position in Tesla by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 1,433 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Bellevue Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Tesla by 1.6% in the second quarter. Bellevue Asset Management LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $568,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cypress Capital Group boosted its holdings in Tesla by 1.7% in the second quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 2,806 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $238.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $759.83 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $221.30 and a 200 day moving average of $195.84. Tesla, Inc. has a 12 month low of $138.80 and a 12 month high of $271.00.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on TSLA. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Tesla from $274.00 to $258.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $295.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. New Street Research cut Tesla from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Tesla from $227.00 to $224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $209.60.

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.