Image from MarketBeat Media, LLC. Key Points Tesla shares rose 2.1% to about $445 on Friday, driven by renewed investor optimism around its AI/autonomy optionality — early FSD "reasoning" upgrades, Elon Musk’s Nvidia hardware buy explanation, and stronger December China deliveries. Countervailing risks — Q4 2025 delivery declines, rising autonomy competition (including Nvidia), analyst downgrades and recent insider selling — are keeping volatility elevated ahead of late‑January earnings. Wall Street consensus is a Hold with an average price target of $408.54, while Tesla trades at a premium (market cap ~$1.48 trillion, P/E ~296.7), underscoring the ongoing valuation debate. 2 Very Different Ways to Trade Tesla as January Earnings Approach Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $28.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.98 billion. Tesla had a net margin of 5.51% and a return on equity of 6.61%. The company's revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year. Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $445.40, for a total transaction of $26,724,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 577,031 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $257,009,607.40. This represents a 9.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,637 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.93, for a total transaction of $1,170,643.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 13,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,107,145.01. This trade represents a 16.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 119,457 shares of company stock worth $53,501,145 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 19.90% of the company's stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tesla Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Tesla in the second quarter worth about $11,839,824,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in Tesla by 581,880.5% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 6,436,704 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $2,044,683,000 after buying an additional 6,435,598 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Tesla by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,390,681 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $79,856,764,000 after buying an additional 4,502,976 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 132.2% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 6,157,000 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock valued at $2,738,141,000 after buying an additional 3,505,000 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Tesla by 20.4% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 20,194,152 shares of the electric vehicle producer's stock worth $6,374,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,422,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.20% of the company's stock. Tesla Company Profile