Franklin Resources Inc. Has $3 Billion Position in Tesla, Inc. $TSLA
- by lulegacy
- Mar 11, 2026
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Key Points
Franklin Resources increased its stake in Tesla by 5.8% in Q3 to 6,737,089 shares — roughly <$strong>$3.0 billion — making TSLA its 18th largest holding and about 0.7% of the fund's portfolio.
Insider selling accelerated recently: Director James R. Murdoch sold 60,000 shares and Kathleen Wilson‑Thompson sold 25,731, with insiders disposing of 87,995 shares (~$38.3M) in the last quarter while insiders still own ~19.9% of the company.
Wall Street is mixed: analysts' consensus is a "Hold" with a $406.84 target (19 Buys / 13 Holds / 9 Sells), while Tesla beat Q4 EPS estimates ($0.50 vs. $0.45) on $24.9B revenue (down 3.1% YoY) and trades near $399 with a ~$1.5T market cap. Here are the key news stories impacting Tesla this week:
Positive Sentiment:
Robust supplier results — CATL posted strong Q4 earnings and signaled healthy global battery demand, which investors view as a positive demand read‑through for Tesla’s supply chain and EV sales outlook. .
Positive Sentiment:
Energy affordability coalition — Tesla joined Alphabet/Google in a coalition (Utilize) to push grid efficiency and lower electricity costs, which could help Tesla Energy adoption and reduce TCO for EV buyers over time. .
Neutral Sentiment:
Speculation around SpaceX IPO —talk of a large SpaceX IPO and potential Tesla‑shareholder access is an indirect narrative for Musk‑linked assets; it's speculative and unlikely to change TSLA fundamentals in the near term. .
Neutral Sentiment:
Tesla advertising beyond X — the company has started paid ads on Facebook/YouTube for certain products; this could be read as proactive marketing to shore up demand or as a sign demand is slipping — outcome depends on subsequent sales trends. .
Neutral Sentiment:
CFO insider sale disclosed — Tesla CFO sold ~2,264 shares (filed in SEC), which is notable but not a large position relative to total outstanding shares; investors often watch for patterns rather than single transactions. .
Negative Sentiment:
Executive departures mounting — long‑time finance VP Sendil Palani left after 17 years and other senior exits (including robotaxi backend director) raise execution risk ahead of major product rollouts. .
Negative Sentiment:
Autonomy / safety regulatory risk — analyst reports and renewed NHTSA scrutiny of FSD (worsening safety metrics flagged) increase near‑term legal, recall and liability risk that could weigh on shares. .
Negative Sentiment:
Competition & delivery pressure — intensifying competition (BYD, NIO, new robotaxi entrants) and reports of falling UK car sales and recent delivery declines are pressuring growth expectations and valuation multiples. .
Negative Sentiment:
Macro / supply concerns — investors remain worried about possible chip shortages, rising oil/pricing pressures and their effect on production costs and consumer buying; these themes are cited in several market notes as reasons investors are cautious. .
Tesla Trading Up 0.1%
NASDAQ TSLA opened at $399.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 369.66, a P/E/G ratio of 11.79 and a beta of 1.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $422.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $424.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Tesla, Inc. has a one year low of $214.25 and a one year high of $498.83.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The electric vehicle producer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $24.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.75 billion. Tesla had a return on equity of 4.86% and a net margin of 4.00%.The company's revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.73 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Tesla, Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.
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