10:56 AM EDT, 06/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Tesla (TSLA) shareholders voted in favor of a $56 billion compensation package for Chief Executive Elon Musk at the electric-vehicle makers annual meeting late Thursday.

Some 1.76 billion votes, or 77%, were in favor of the package, with 528.9 million votes to reject, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Those holding 20.6 million shares abstained, the filing showed.

The approval of the package is a "pop-the-champagne" moment for Musk and likely removes an overhang of between $20 and $25 on Tesla's stock, Wedbush Securities said in note late Thursday. Large shareholders feared that rejecting the proposal would prompt Musk to leave the company and that risk outweighed the reward in voting no to the deal, despite "some obvious frustration" with him, analyst Daniel Ives said.

Wedbush maintained its outperform rating on the EV maker's stock and 12-month price target of $275.

Shareholders first approved Musk's deal in 2018, but a Delaware judge in January voided the payout plan, calling it an "unfathomable sum." Tesla is appealing that decision.

Regardless of Thursday's vote, the plan will still be decided in court since shareholders have reportedly already filed lawsuits against it, accusing Musk of coercing other investors to approve the package.

Meanwhile, other proposals approved by shareholders Thursday included shifting Tesla's corporate home to Texas, where it has its headquarters and a key factory, from Delaware. Investors also re-elected former 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch and Elon Musk's brother, Kimbal Musk, to the company's board.

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