Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 11,621 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock, valued at approximately $5,168,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TSLA. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 882 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Tesla by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 10,816 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $4,810,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Tesla by 1.4% during the third quarter. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,028 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $1,791,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Next Level Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in Tesla by 5.3% in the third quarter. Next Level Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,477 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Samalin Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in shares of Tesla by 0.4% during the third quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 5,916 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $2,631,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Tesla

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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on TSLA. China Renaissance boosted their price target on Tesla from $349.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Tesla in a report on Monday, January 5th. CICC Research raised their price target on Tesla from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $510.00 price target on shares of Tesla and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Tesla from $483.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tesla presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $410.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kimbal Musk sold 56,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.66, for a total transaction of $25,606,501.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,391,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $627,145,215.90. This represents a 3.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director owned 577,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $257,009,607.40. This trade represents a 9.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 119,457 shares of company stock worth $53,501,145. 19.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Tesla Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TSLA opened at $449.36 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 299.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $443.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $402.18. Tesla, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $214.25 and a fifty-two week high of $498.83.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share 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.