James Murdoch Sells 60,000 Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Director James Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $445.40, for a total value of $26,724,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 577,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $257,009,607.40. This represents a 9.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Tesla Price Performance

TSLA stock opened at $431.50 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $444.60 and a 200-day moving average of $393.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 287.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.93 and a beta of 1.83. Tesla, Inc. has a 12 month low of $214.25 and a 12 month high of $498.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Tesla by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,386,304 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $112,241,237,000 after acquiring an additional 995,623 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 113,762,849 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $50,592,614,000 after purchasing an additional 344,162 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Tesla by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 64,767,993 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $20,480,477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,269,304 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 44,035,949 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $19,583,547,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the second quarter valued at about $11,839,824,000. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on TSLA. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $510.00 price target on shares of Tesla and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Baird R W raised Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price target on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Tesla in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and nine have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $408.54.

Tesla News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Tesla this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New Street Research raised its price target to $600 and reiterated a Buy, signaling some sell‑side conviction that Tesla still has meaningful upside despite recent setbacks. New Street Research lifts Tesla to $600
• Positive Sentiment: Tactical demand support in China: Tesla is offering zero‑interest loans on Model 3 and Y to try to regain market share in its largest growth market — a near‑term lever to stabilize deliveries. Tesla offers zero-interest loans in China
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed management tone on competition: Elon Musk downplays an immediate Nvidia threat but admits competitive Nvidia tech could be relevant in several years — this tempers panic but raises uncertainty on timing of risk. Musk on Nvidia competition
• Negative Sentiment: Nvidia’s Alpamayo and broader push into open autonomous‑driving AI is being viewed as an existential competitive threat to Tesla’s FSD/robotaxi lead; this has triggered ETF/stock selling and renewed skepticism about Tesla’s AI moat. Nvidia Alpamayo rattles Tesla
• Negative Sentiment: Demand weakness / delivery misses: Tesla’s 2025 deliveries fell and Q4 shipments missed some expectations (China, UK, Germany softness), reinforcing concerns about market share loss to rivals like BYD and pressuring near‑term revenue/margin outlooks. Delivery declines and analyst concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst divergence and downgrades: multiple firms (UBS, JPMorgan, DZ Bank, HSBC among others) have issued cautious to sell views citing valuation and execution risk, increasing volatility around earnings. DZ Bank sell rating
• Negative Sentiment: Insider and execution noise: Director James Murdoch sold 60,000 shares (SEC filing), and reports of trademark/robotics setbacks add to short‑term sentiment pressure. Murdoch insider sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: a U.S. lawmaker is readying a bill to require manual door releases — a potential headwind for Tesla’s EV design choices and a new regulatory overhang. Door-handle safety bill

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.