Tesla Independent Director Acquires 3,604% More Stock

Those following along with Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) will no doubt be intrigued by the recent purchase of shares by Joseph Gebbia, Independent Director of the company, who spent a stonking US$1.0m on stock at an average price of US$256. That purchase boosted their holding by 3,604%, which makes us wonder if the move was inspired by quietly confident deeply-felt optimism.

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Tesla Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Director, Kimbal Musk, sold US$28m worth of shares at a price of US$368 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$287. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels. Kimbal Musk was the only individual insider to sell over the last year.

You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

View our latest analysis for Tesla

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Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Tesla insiders own about US$119b worth of shares (which is 13% of the company). This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Do The Tesla Insider Transactions Indicate?

The stark truth for Tesla is that there has been more insider selling than insider buying in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. The company boasts high insider ownership, but we're a little hesitant, given the history of share sales. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. You'd be interested to know, that we found 3 warning signs for Tesla and we suggest you have a look.

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For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.