Vest Financial LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Tesla, Inc. $TSLA

Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,095 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock after buying an additional 6,944 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Tesla were worth $16,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Chapman Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Tesla during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Tesla during the second quarter worth $29,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the third quarter worth $29,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Tesla in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, ESL Trust Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Tesla by 1,900.0% during the second quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC now owns 100 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 66.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Tesla News

Here are the key news stories impacting Tesla this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Tesla launched unsupervised robotaxi rides in Austin — a concrete execution milestone that validates its autonomy stack and helps justify the higher valuation investors place on software/robotaxi optionality. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Lemonade announced plans to insure Tesla FSD miles (deep discounts for FSD usage). Third-party insurance backing reduces a major regulatory/liability overhang and signals confidence in FSD safety metrics. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Elon Musk says FSD subscription/pricing will rise as unsupervised capability nears — implying higher recurring revenue per vehicle if adoption and approvals continue. This improves the revenue mix outlook if regulators sign off. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Tesla published Q4 analyst estimates ahead of the call (revenue ~$24.49B, operating income ~$1.05B, non?GAAP EPS ~$0.44). These set expectations but leave margin and guidance as the deciding factors at the earnings print. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Brokerage sentiment is mixed — the street’s average recommendation is around “Hold,” and several analysts emphasize that delivery trends and margins will determine near-term P/L moves. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Competition and tech rivals are advancing — Nvidia released new autonomous-vehicle tools, prompting questions about whether Tesla can maintain its AI lead. Increased competition raises execution risk for Tesla’s software monopoly thesis. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Operational and valuation risks persist — reports of Berlin workforce cuts, analyst warnings about slow Optimus/Cybercab production, and price-targets below market leave little margin for disappointment. These risks could amplify downside if Q4 margins or guidance disappoint. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TSLA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Tesla from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. CICC Research boosted their price objective on shares of Tesla from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Tesla in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Glj Research reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $25.28 price target (up from $19.05) on shares of Tesla in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and eight have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Tesla presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $410.77.

Insider Transactions at Tesla

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

Tesla Stock Up 4.2%

Shares of NASDAQ TSLA opened at $449.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 trillion, a PE ratio of 299.57, a P/E/G ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $443.91 and a 200-day moving average of $402.18. Tesla, Inc. has a 52-week low of $214.25 and a 52-week high of $498.83.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) last issued 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. Tesla had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The business had revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.98 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Tesla 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.