Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Shares Up 4.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares traded up 4.2% during trading on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $350.00 to $360.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Tesla traded as high as $449.50 and last traded at $449.36. 70,674,437 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 9% from the average session volume of 65,026,313 shares. The stock had previously closed at $431.44.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on TSLA. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $510.00 target price on shares of Tesla and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. President Capital decreased their price target on shares of Tesla from $529.00 to $517.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Tesla from $475.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Tesla to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and eight have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $410.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Tesla news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 56,820 shares of Tesla stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $450.66, for a total value of $25,606,501.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,391,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $627,145,215.90. The trade was a 3.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,637 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.93, for a total value of $1,170,643.41. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 13,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,107,145.01. The trade was a 16.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 119,457 shares of company stock valued at $53,501,145. Corporate insiders own 19.90% of the company’s stock.

Tesla News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Tesla this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Removal of human safety monitors for some Austin Robotaxi rides is being treated as a material operational milestone that signals Tesla’s self-driving software may be ready for commercial deployment — a direct catalyst for the stock as the market re-rates Tesla toward a higher-margin autonomy/AI story. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Lemonade’s new autonomous-insurance product (50% discount for FSD miles) provides third‑party validation that Tesla’s FSD data can be monetized and de‑risked, reducing a major liability question for Robotaxi scaling. That partnership lifted sentiment across both stocks. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Elon Musk’s Davos comments — predicting widespread U.S. Robotaxi deployment by end‑of‑2026 and consumer Optimus sales by late‑2027 — reinforce the long‑term AI/robotics narrative that underpins Tesla’s premium valuation. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Technical/order‑flow signals (Power Inflow alert) and institutional buying have driven short‑term momentum, attracting traders and helping fuel the rally. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming catalysts create uncertainty: Tesla reports Q4 and full‑year 2025 earnings on Jan. 28 (same week as a Fed meeting), so guidance, margins and FSD/energy commentary could produce big moves in either direction. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Musk has warned Cybercab and Optimus production will be “agonizingly slow” at first, reminding investors that execution risk on hardware rollouts remains high and could delay revenue conversion from the autonomy/robotics thesis. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High valuation and persistent safety/regulatory scrutiny keep downside risk elevated; public critics and competitors continue to highlight Autopilot/FSD safety issues that could attract regulators or slow approvals in other markets. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst positioning is mixed — Barclays kept an equal‑weight stance and a price target well below current levels, illustrating that some shops still see material downside if execution slips. Read More.

Institutional Trading of Tesla

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

Tesla Stock Up 4.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $443.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $402.18. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 299.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.83.

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

About Tesla

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.