WT Asset Management, one of Asia’s largest hedge funds, cut its stake in Chinese EV maker Nio by nearly a third in the fourth quarter, just months after making a significant return to the stock.
The Hong Kong and Beijing-based firm sold 6,039,704 shares between October and December, ending 2025 with 12,611,190 shares valued at $63.5 million, according to its quarterly portfolio update with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The 32.4% reduction follows WT’s return to Nio in the third quarter, when it purchased 18.65 million shares after having fully exited its position in late 2021.
The hedge fund, which manages around $4 billion, had first invested in Nio in the second quarter of 2020.
The value of WT’s holdings dropped 54.7% quarter over quarter, resulting from both the share sale and Nio‘s stock price decline in the final months of 2025.
Nio closed at $5.04 on December 31, down from $7.62 on September 30.
As of press time, Nio shares were trading 2.3% lower at $4.92.
Volatile History
WT Asset Management’s stake in Nio has been highly volatile.
The firm first acquired 2,541,800 shares in mid-2020, amid a major EV rally that saw Nio, XPeng, and Li Auto reach all-time highs.
Nio‘s US-listed shares surged nearly 5,000% from October 2019 to January 2021, climbing to $66.99.
By the end of 2021, WT held 2.44 million shares.
It fully exited the position in the first quarter of 2022, selling all shares as Nio‘s stock began a prolonged decline that would see it lose more than 90% of its value over the following two years.
The hedge fund remained out of the stock for more than three years before returning in the third quarter of 2025, when Nio shares more than doubled from $3.51 on July 1 to $7.62 on September 30.
At the time, the stock price surge was driven by the launch of two three row SUVs priced below market expectations.
The L90 was pre-launched in July and officially launched on the final day of August.
The third generation ES8 was launched in the second half of September, immediately becoming the Group’s best selling model after backlog reached 26 weeks — equivalent to six months — a few days after the event.
JPMorgan Cuts Price Target
As reported by EV earlier on Monday, JPMorgan analyst Nick Lai reduced his price target on Nio to $7 from $8, while maintaining an Overweight rating.
Lai also slashed his price target on XPeng by 32%, from $50 to $34, while keeping an Overweight rating on that stock as well.
Nio shares closed at $5.04 on Friday, implying 39% upside to JPMorgan’s revised target.
The stock rose 7% that session, a day after the company pre-announced its first-ever quarterly profit.
Institutional Ownership
WT Asset Management currently ranks as Nio‘s seventh-largest institutional shareholder, according to preliminary Nasdaq data — as most institutions have not yet disclosed their Q4 2025 portfolio updates.
Aspex Management, the Hong Kong-based hedge fund that purchased 35 million shares in the third quarter, remains Nio’s largest institutional investor following backer CYVN Holdings.
The firm has not yet filed its fourth-quarter update.
UBS, which held 24.5 million shares at the end of 2025, cut its position by 14.7% in the fourth quarter.
The Swiss bank had slashed its stake by 59% in the previous quarter, when it sold 41.4 million shares.
Jane Street Group held 19.2 million shares as of September 30, a position it built through a 3,778% increase in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets reported 18.6 million shares, an 874% jump from the previous quarter.
Morgan Stanley held 16.2 million shares at the end of the third quarter, a 60% increase, while D.E. Shaw reported 13.8 million shares after re-entering the stock.
A total of 477 institutional investors collectively hold over 309 million Nio shares, according to Nasdaq.
The figure represents a significant recovery from mid-2025, when institutional ownership had fallen below 200 million shares — down more than 61% from its peak of nearly 600 million shares in early 2022.
Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund CYVN Holdings remains Nio’s largest overall shareholder with a 21.7% stake, built through $2.94 billion in investments completed in 2023.
Major Software Issue
As reported earlier on Monday, the Shanghai-based EV maker will be pushing a software fix for 246,229 vehicles in China to address a screen blackout issue affecting three models.
The models impacted are the first generation SUVs ES8, ES6, and the coupe SUV EC6 produced between March 2018 and January 2023.
Nio will address the problem through an over-the-air update at no cost to owners.
