Hills Bank & Trust Co Reduces Holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Hills Bank & Trust Co trimmed its stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 30.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 362 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 162 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Tesla were worth $146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hengehold Capital Management LLC grew its position in Tesla by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI grew its position in Tesla by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 6,990 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,823,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC grew its position in Tesla by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Tesla by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,305 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $2,950,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vista Finance LLC grew its position in Tesla by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 3,510 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.79, for a total value of $13,189,513.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,063,565.40. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on TSLA. Mizuho reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $365.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Tesla from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Tesla from $490.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $325.65.

Tesla Stock Performance

Shares of TSLA stock opened at $249.98 on Friday. Tesla, Inc. has a one year low of $138.80 and a one year high of $488.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $351.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $319.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $804.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Tesla Company 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.