Morgan Stanley, UBS, Bank of America, Susquehanna and Millennium collectively added about 36 million Nio shares.
- Institutional holders added a net 2.48 million Nio shares in the second quarter despite more firms selling than buying.
- Morgan Stanley increased its stake 86% to 27.41 million shares, becoming Nio’s largest holder among Q2 filers.
- D.E. Shaw sold 20.12 million shares and cut its stake by 52.5%, while JPMorgan continued a nearly 79% unwind.
Nio shares fell 2% in Hong Kong on Wednesday despite institutional filings showing a net increase in holdings, as 66 new investors countered reductions by existing shareholders.
Nio’s U.S.-listed shares fell 1.5% on Tuesday to close at $4.53, ending a two-session winning streak.
New Investors Rescue Nio Demand
Institutional holders added a net 2.48 million Nio shares during the second quarter. More institutions sold than bought — 270 versus 247 — but buyers traded in larger blocks. Purchases totaled 76.26 million shares, compared with 73.78 million shares sold.
The positive balance depended entirely on fresh capital. Existing holders that changed their positions were net sellers of 3.1 million shares, while 66 new investors opened positions totaling 10.58 million shares. In comparison, 67 institutions exited Nio completely, selling 5 million shares. New positions therefore exceeded complete exits by 5.58 million shares, enough to offset selling by established holders and leave the quarter modestly positive.
Morgan Stanley Leads Nio Buying
Morgan Stanley led institutional buying, adding 12.69 million shares and increasing its position by 86% to 27.41 million. The move made it Nio’s largest shareholder among second-quarter filers. UBS added 6.92 million shares to lift its stake 56% to 19.27 million, while Bank of America increased its holding by 4.77 million shares to nearly 19 million.
Susquehanna expanded its stake nearly 4x to 8.29 million shares, and Millennium Management boosted its stake almost sixfold to 6.79 million. Morgan Stanley, UBS, Bank of America, Susquehanna and Millennium together added 36 million shares, which is more than half of all shares purchased in the quarter.
Major Funds Cut Nio Stakes
D.E. Shaw dominated the opposite side of the trade, disposing of 20.12 million shares and cutting its position by 52.5% to 18.2 million. The reduction was the quarter’s largest move in either direction and pushed D.E. Shaw from Nio’s biggest institutional holder at the start of the period to fourth place by June 30. Without D.E. Shaw’s reduction, existing investors that changed their positions would have been net buyers of 17 million shares.
Two Sigma sold 4.3 million shares, Citadel cut 4.48 million and JPMorgan disposed of 3.87 million. JPMorgan’s latest reduction extended an unwind that has erased nearly 79% of its record Nio position from late 2025.
Nio Outsells BMW And Mercedes
The institutional positioning comes as Nio gains operating momentum in Hefei, the manufacturing hub that backed the company with a 7 billion yuan ($1.03 billion) investment during its 2020 liquidity crisis.
Nio led Hefei’s passenger-vehicle market in July and ranked first in cumulative sales from January through July, according to retail data released this week. It also topped Anhui’s premium-vehicle market, ahead of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, ChinaEVHome noted. The ES8, ES9, Onvo L80 and Onvo L90 occupied the top four positions in Hefei’s large-SUV segment in July, collectively accounting for more than 60% of the market.
The ES8 remained the city’s best-selling model priced above 400,000 yuan for a ninth consecutive month. Nio expects to deliver its 140,000th new-generation ES8 this week, after reaching 130,000 deliveries on July 22, indicating a recent pace of 10,000 units per month. Nio delivered 107,658 vehicles across its main brand, Onvo and Firefly brands in the second quarter, up 49% from a year earlier.
How Do Retail Traders Feel About NIO?
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for NIO was ‘bearish’ amid ‘normal’ message volume.
One user questioned, “$NIO when will NIO CEO and the board be held accountable of 9 years of negative returns?”
View this Stocktwits post
Another user said, “$NIO The future is more of the same... poor sales, losses, debt, dilution and a CEO fail. If you can't grasp this maybe you shouldn't be in the stock market.”
View this Stocktwits post
Nio’s U.S.-listed shares has declined 7% over the past year.
For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<
