Tesla, Nio Significantly Cut From Baillie Gifford Portfolio, Here's What The Firm Bought Instead In Q1

Investment management firm Baillie Gifford shed significant stake in electric carmakers Tesla Inc TSLA and Nio Inc NIO in the first quarter and bought shares in vaccine maker Moderna Inc MRNA, regulatory filings reveal.

What Happened: Baillie Gifford, a 110-year-old asset management firm and an early investor in Tesla, sold 11.1 million shares, or 1.15% of the Elon Musk-led company’s total shares outstanding, reducing the fund’s holding by 40% in the EV maker from the previous quarter.

The Scottish firm has been lowering its stake in the company for a while and now owns about 1.7% of Tesla's outstanding shares at 16.22 million; in the previous quarter, the firm had sold 7.4 million shares.

The investment firm first bought 2.3 million Tesla shares in early 2013 when Tesla shares were trading under $8. Tesla shares closed 1.10% lower at $663.54 on Thursday and have fallen 6% so far this year.

See Also: Tesla Future Profitability In Question With Loss Of Regulatory Credit Revenue From Stellantis, Says Analyst

In Nio, the investment firm sold about 15.9 million shares, reducing its holding by 14% but still holds a 7.12% stake in the Chinese electric vehicle company that has just announced ambitious plans to enter the Norway electric vehicle market, its first overseas foray.

Nio shares closed 2.73% lower at $36.68 on Thursday.

See Also: Can Nio Stock Go From $40 to $400 In 18 Months?

The investment firm added position in vaccine maker Moderna — buying about 21 million shares, raising its stake to 11.3% in the Massachusetts-based company.

Moderna shares closed 1.44% lower at $160.50 on Thursday after the company reported its first quarterly profit helped by covid vaccine sales. 

Some other stocks sold by the firm in Q1 included Amazon.com Inc AMZN, Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG, and Facebook Inc FB.

Baillie Gifford’s Other Q1 buys included Illumina Inc ILMN, Shopify Inc SHOP, and Spotify Technology SPOT, Clover Health Investments Corp CLOV, Snap Inc. SNAP, and Li Auto Inc. LI.

See also: How to Invest in Tesla Stock