By David Randall

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Aristides Capital, Renaissance Technologies and Adage Capital Partners were some of the large U.S. hedge fund investors that increased their stakes or acquired new positions in Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:) Inc (NASDAQ.) Inc. The quarter ended before a dramatic October rally, which lifted Tesla’s stock price above $1 trillion, and a subsequent fall this month.

Renaissance purchased slightly more that 610,000 shares in company. Adage gained a position of 42.800 shares, and Aristides a position of 8.500 shares according to SEC disclosures.

According to WhaleWisdom data-tracking company WhaleWisdom, overall, there were 211 new positions for Tesla by asset managers and hedge funds last quarter. 116 companies closed their positions.

Tesla stock shares rose 43.5% to October thanks in part to Hertz’s announcement. The gains they made in October were tempered by a dip below $1 billion on Monday due to investors reacting to Elon Musk’s recent share sale of $6.9 billion.

Each fund disclosed its position in the quarter-end SEC filings, which were released Monday. They do not indicate whether they have retained those positions. Tesla stock closed Monday afternoon at $1.013.39. This is nearly 31% less than its Sept. 30 close of $775.

After Musk suggested the idea via Twitter (NYSE:), the stock fell 18.5% to its Nov. 4, record high of $1243.49.

Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein stated that Tesla’s institutional interest has probably helped boost its valuation. This is despite the increasing competition from start-up automakers such Rivian Automotive Inc, and a greater focus on electric vehicles in established companies like General Motors Co (NYSE :).

Tesla is traded at 130.7x future earnings

He said that even with recent shares selling, “we believe the market is still assuming Tesla is the top-five global automaker in terms of annual sales and the launch of its high-margin autonomous-driving software subscription service.”