University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter told ABC News that “anytime insiders, including directors, are selling shares, it’s not a positive signal.”
Ritter clarified that Denholm’s July 2024 planned sales plan, which represents a regular attempt to dispel the idea that an executive dumped shares based on inside knowledge, is an exception.
“Filing a plan months ago to sell some of those shares over time is common,” Ritter said. A request for comment from ABC News was not immediately answered by Tesla.
Some of the stock transactions may be the result of individual officials’ own financial decisions, according to Seth Goldstein, an analyst at Morningstar who focuses on the electric car sector.
“While a sale doesn’t necessarily mean an executive or board member feels negatively about a company’s outlook, it could mean they think the stock is at a fair price or even overvalued,”
Goldstein said. Board members and executives sold off over $118 million worth of shares, although these deals often followed the execution of stock options, which cost roughly $16 million.
