Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 198,231 Shares of Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 5.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,285,405 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after selling 198,231 shares during the quarter. Tesla makes up about 2.0% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Tesla were worth $1,461,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chapman Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. grew its position in shares of Tesla by 59.7% in the 1st quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 107 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Tesla in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, ESL Trust Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Tesla by 1,900.0% in the 2nd quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC now owns 100 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Tesla news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.93, for a total transaction of $1,170,643.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,757 shares in the company, valued at $6,107,145.01. This represents a 16.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 56,820 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.66, for a total transaction of $25,606,501.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,391,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $627,145,215.90. This trade represents a 3.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TSLA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. CICC Research lifted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Melius Research set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Tesla and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Glj Research reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on Tesla from $490.00 to $482.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, China Renaissance upped their price target on shares of Tesla from $349.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and nine have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $400.86.

Tesla Price Performance

TSLA stock opened at $467.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 311.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.24 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Tesla, Inc. has a 52-week low of $214.25 and a 52-week high of $495.28. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $437.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $378.86.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.98 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

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.