Is Baillie Gifford Losing Confidence in Tesla (TSLA) Stock?

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  • Baillie Gifford reduced its Tesla (TSLA) stock stake by 4% during the second quarter.
  • The electric vehicle (EV) company is still the firm’s second-largest position.
  • Shares of TSLA stock are down more than 25% year-to-date (YTD).
Tesla (TSLA) logo on city building at night
Source: Vitaliy Karimov / Shutterstock.com

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock is in focus today on news that Baillie Gifford sold 407,949 shares during the second quarter, decreasing its position by 4%. The leading U.K. asset management firm boasts over $95 billion in managed 13F securities and acts as a long-term investor. Baillie has an average holding period of 12.39 quarters for stocks in its portfolio and a holding period of 16.8 quarters for its top ten stocks.

Baillie hasn’t been the only notable figure selling TSLA stock lately. Earlier this week, CEO Elon Musk disclosed that he recently sold 7.92 million shares worth $6.88 billion between Aug. 5 and Aug. 9. This is the second time Musk has sold TSLA this year, following an $8.4 billion sale in late April.

Musk likely sold the shares to fund his potential Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) acquisition. The CEO explained that he would buy back the shares if he was not forced to acquire the social media platform. The five-day trial between Musk and Twitter is scheduled for Oct. 17 at Delaware’s Chancery court.

With that in mind, let’s get into the details of the Baillie Gifford sale.

TSLA Stock: Baillie Gifford Sells Shares

Is Baillie Gifford losing confidence in Tesla? Not exactly. After the Q2 sale, the firm still owns 9.4 million shares of TSLA. That makes TSLA stock the firm’s second-largest position after Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA).

Baillie has owned shares of TSLA since 2013, when the company still traded below $100 per share. As a result, the firm likely sold the shares to book a profit. During Q1, Baillie reported selling 985,761 shares of TSLA.

So, who else is betting big on the electric vehicle (EV) company?

Who Else Is Betting Big on Tesla?

According to Yahoo! Finance, insiders hold 17.19% of all shares of TSLA stock, with Musk owning 155.03 million shares after his recent sale. Meanwhile, institutions hold 42.76% of all shares. In total, 3,338 institutions own a stake in TSLA. They also own a 51.64% stake in the public float.

Let’s take a look at the top five shareholders:

  1. Elon Musk, CEO: 155.03 million shares.
  2. Vanguard: 65.17 million shares.
  3. BlackRock (NYSE:BLK): 55.24 million shares.
  4. Capital World Investors: 36.3 million shares.
  5. State Street (NYSE:STT): 32.42 million shares.

On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2022/08/is-baillie-gifford-losing-confidence-in-tesla-tsla-stock/.

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