Insider Selling: Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Director Sells $26,724,000.00 in Stock

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Director James Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $445.40, for a total value of $26,724,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 577,031 shares in the company, valued at $257,009,607.40. This represents a 9.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Tesla Stock Performance

NASDAQ TSLA opened at $435.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Tesla, Inc. has a 1-year low of $214.25 and a 1-year high of $498.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $444.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $394.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 290.53, a P/E/G ratio of 6.93 and a beta of 1.83.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TSLA. Siren L.L.C. purchased a new position in Tesla during the first quarter worth about $2,332,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Tesla during the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,839,824,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey lifted its holdings in shares of Tesla by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 427,150 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $135,688,000 after acquiring an additional 22,607 shares during the period. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Tesla in the first quarter worth approximately $205,495,000. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Tesla by 1,823.0% in the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 68,325 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $21,704,000 after purchasing an additional 64,772 shares during the period. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tesla News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Tesla this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New Street (and some other bulls) raised their price target and reiterated a long‑term autonomy lead, providing a constructive counterpoint to recent weakness. New Street lifts TSLA to $600
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush’s Dan Ives and other bullish analysts argue Tesla’s AI/energy optionality and brand still justify holding — a sentiment that supports buyers on weakness. Wedbush upbeat on Tesla
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional flows (UBS AM materially increased its Q3 stake) signal continued conviction from major asset managers and provide a bid under the stock. Quiver quant: institutional moves
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually high January options volume reflects positioning ahead of Tesla’s late‑January earnings — raises near‑term volatility but isn’t a directionally predictive signal. Options volume spike analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Elon Musk reiterated that achieving “true” unsupervised full self‑driving will require very large real‑world datasets (he cited ~10 billion miles), underlining a long‑dated timeline for robotaxi profits. Musk on FSD mileage needs
• Neutral Sentiment: Shareholder governance/compensation votes at Tesla’s meeting signaled investors are asserting oversight — important for long‑term governance risk but not an immediate earnings driver. Proxy vote coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive threat from Nvidia’s Alpamayo and broader AI push has investors rethinking Tesla’s autonomy moat; several articles tie recent share weakness to Nvidia’s CES moves. Nvidia competition coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Tesla’s vehicle deliveries declined in 2025 and Q4 missed expectations in several regions — concrete demand and market‑share headwinds that pressure near‑term revenue and margin outlooks. Delivery miss coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple sell/reduce ratings and price‑target cuts (UBS reiterated a Sell, Truist trimmed its PT) amplify downside risk and headline volatility. UBS reiterates Sell
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by director James Murdoch (SEC filing) and high‑profile bearish takes (e.g., Gordon Johnson’s extreme low target) weigh on sentiment and can deepen pullbacks. SEC filing: Murdoch sale Gordon Johnson $25 target

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TSLA. New Street Research upped their target price on shares of Tesla from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays restated a “neutral” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Melius started coverage on Tesla in a report on Monday, October 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $520.00 price target on the stock. China Renaissance boosted their price objective on Tesla from $349.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and nine have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $408.54.

Tesla Company Profile

Tesla, Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) is an American company that designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles, energy generation and energy storage products. Founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, Tesla grew into a vertically integrated mobility and clean‑energy company with Elon Musk serving as its chief executive officer. The company’s stated mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy, reflected in its combined focus on electric drivetrains, battery technology, renewable energy products and software.

Tesla’s automotive business includes a lineup of battery‑electric vehicles and related services.