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 (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) in the first quarter and bought shares in vaccine maker Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: 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 (NASDAQ: AMZN), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB).

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

See also: How to Invest in Tesla Stock