Rep. Julie Johnson Sells Off Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Representative Julie Johnson (D-Texas) recently sold shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). In a filing disclosed on March 12th, the Representative disclosed that they had sold between $15,001 and $50,000 in Tesla stock on February 12th. The trade occurred in the Representative’s “MERRILL LYNCH TAX EFFICIENT CORE” account.

Representative Julie Johnson also recently made the following trade(s):

• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC) on 2/25/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) on 2/25/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) on 2/24/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) on 2/24/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of The PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) on 2/24/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) on 2/24/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) on 2/24/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) on 2/24/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Capital One Financial (NYSE:COF) on 2/14/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Progressive (NYSE:PGR) on 2/14/2025.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of Tesla stock opened at $240.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $774.15 billion, a PE ratio of 117.98, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 2.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $354.52 and a 200 day moving average of $318.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Tesla, Inc. has a 12 month low of $138.80 and a 12 month high of $488.54.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.66 EPS 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Tesla

In other news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $413.56, for a total transaction of $2,894,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,965 shares in the company, valued at $45,063,565.40. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 54,776 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 477,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,859,478.69. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,228 shares of company stock valued at $166,849,043 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 20.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tesla

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 243,193,181 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $98,211,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,011,604 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $24,566,217,000 after buying an additional 1,655,203 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Tesla in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,420,248,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Tesla by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,661,400 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $13,997,660,000 after buying an additional 9,920,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Tesla by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 28,579,615 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $11,541,592,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075,418 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TSLA. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Tesla from $315.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Tesla from $259.00 to $225.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Cowen raised Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $325.81.

About Representative Johnson

Julie Johnson (Democratic Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing Texas’ 32nd Congressional District. She assumed office on January 3, 2025. Her current term ends on January 3, 2027.

Johnson (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas’ 32nd Congressional District. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Julie Johnson earned a B.A. in history and government from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987 and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 1991. Johnson’s career experience includes working as an attorney.

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.