Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Stock Price Down 2.6% After Analyst Downgrade

02 Jan 2026, 22:06 by Mitch Edgeman · The Markets Daily

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA – Get Free Report) fell 2.6% during trading on Friday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $444.00 to $439.00. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the stock. Tesla traded as low as $435.30 and last traded at $438.07. 84,634,454 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 19% from the average session volume of 71,083,032 shares. The stock had previously closed at $449.72.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on TSLA. CICC Research boosted their price target on Tesla from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Tesla in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Tesla from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. President Capital upped their price objective on shares of Tesla from $373.00 to $529.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Tesla from $483.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and nine have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $414.36.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Tesla

Insider Activity at Tesla

In related news, CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.93, for a total value of $1,170,643.41. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 13,757 shares in the company, valued at $6,107,145.01. This represents a 16.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimbal Musk sold 56,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 19.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Tesla News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Tesla this week:

Positive Sentiment: Bull case centers on autonomy/robotaxi upside — LikeFolio’s Andy Swan highlights Tesla’s higher autonomous driving mileage vs. Waymo and frames robotaxis/AI as the asymmetric upside that could re‑rate TSLA over time. “Look to the Future:” LikeFolio’s TSLA Bull Case in Robotaxi & AI
Positive Sentiment: Canaccord expects CyberCab (robotaxi) production scale‑up in 2026, reinforcing the narrative that Tesla’s long‑term monetizable autonomy plans could offset near‑term auto headwinds. Anticipating Tesla to scale-up CyberCab production in 2026
Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts keep bullish price targets despite weak deliveries — Dan Ives maintains a high target, signalling continued institutional faith in Tesla’s AI/robotics story even as auto metrics weaken. Dan Ives Maintains Street-High Tesla Price Target
Neutral Sentiment: Positive non‑auto headlines (Elon Musk charitable share gift) and record energy storage deployments give investors alternative catalysts to watch beyond vehicle deliveries. Tesla Fourth Quarter 2025 Production, Deliveries & Deployments
Negative Sentiment: Q4 deliveries missed consensus (418,227 vehicles) and annual sales fell for the second straight year, undercutting the core growth story and prompting selling pressure. Tesla’s quarterly deliveries fall more than expected
Negative Sentiment: Tesla lost the title of world’s top BEV seller to BYD — a symbolic and competitive blow that highlights intensifying pricing/market‑share pressure, especially in China and parts of Europe. BYD overtakes Tesla as world’s top seller of EVs
Negative Sentiment: Regional weakness in Europe (sharp registration drops in some markets) and the expiration of U.S. EV tax credits have materially depressed demand, increasing near‑term execution risk. Tesla sales slide across Europe
Negative Sentiment: Some brokers trimmed price targets and issued cautious/hold views as auto headwinds persist (Truist trimmed its target to $439 and maintained a hold). Truist lowers Tesla price target

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TSLA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Tesla by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 252,386,304 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $112,241,237,000 after acquiring an additional 995,623 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Tesla by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 113,762,849 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock valued at $50,592,614,000 after purchasing an additional 344,162 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Tesla by 5.8% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 44,035,949 shares of the electric vehicle producer’s stock worth $19,583,547,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Tesla in the second quarter worth about $11,839,824,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.20% of the company’s stock.

Tesla Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $445.68 and a 200 day moving average of $390.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 292.05, a P/E/G ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.83.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA – Get Free Report) last announced its 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 return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 5.51%.The company had revenue of $28.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. Tesla’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

About Tesla

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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.