The start of 2024 went rather poorly for pioneering electric vehicle maker Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). Shares of the company were already in a downtrend when the year started, and reached a low of just $142 in April.
With a few hiccups, recovery had been slow since — with significant pullbacks caused by the disappointing ‘Robotaxi Day’ event.
However, the Elon Musk-led venture has seen prices skyrocket since the company’s Q3 2024 earnings call, held on October 23. Revenue came in slightly below consensus forecasts — but earnings per share (EPS) of $0.72 blew analyst expectations of $0.59 out of the water.
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Beyond that, Tesla stock experienced significant tailwinds — Musk’s growing alliance with President-elect Donald Trump, his appointment to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and Trump’s purported plans to ease self-driving regulations and fast-track autonomous vehicle rollouts in the United States — all of which stand to benefit the price of TSLA shares.
At press time, Tesla stock was trading at $357.93 — over the course of the last 30 days, it has rallied by 42.35%, bringing year-to-date gains up to 44.08%.
While most of those goings-on are positive, there is a worrying undercurrent, as numerous insiders and board members have been selling large quantities of TSLA stock as it has been surging.
Chairwoman sells millions of dollars worth of Tesla stock
On December 2, Robyn Denholm, chairwoman of Tesla, executed 8 transactions — 7 of which were sales, according to data retrieved by Finbold’s insider trading radar from an SEC filing made public on December 4.
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This signal is triggered upon the reporting of the trade to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In total, Denholm’s trades encompassed 112,390 Tesla shares, which were sold at prices ranging from $352.74 to $358.635.
Put together, the chairwoman made approximately $38,719,321. The eighth transaction was a conversion of options into 112,390 shares. Following the sale, Denholm retains a stake of 85,000 Tesla stocks.
Like some of her recent sales, this one was made in accordance with a 10b5-1 plan adopted on July 25 — in other words, the trades were prearranged. Similar strategies were put in place by other key insiders, most notably director Kimbal Musk and board member Kathleen Wilson-Thompson. The July 25 plan could see Denholm sell as many as 674,345 shares in total by June 18, 2025.
That wasn’t the only Tesla insider trade that Finbold’s radar picked up — on the same day, another Form 4 filing revealed that chief financial officer (CFO) Vaibhav Taneja sold 7,000 Tesla shares worth roughly $2.48 million. He retains a stake of 105,032 shares.
All in all, the trades of the two insiders are worth a combined total of approximately $41,199,321. While insider selling might appear as a bearish signal at first glance, it’s important to remember that all of this was scheduled in advance, and cannot reliably serve as a sign of a pullback or diminishing future prospects for Tesla.
Featured image via Shutterstock
