Avantis Emerging Markets Equity ETF (AVEM) made its largest purchase of Nio shares to date in the second quarter of 2025, extending its uninterrupted buying streak of the Chinese electric vehicle maker to 21 consecutive quarters.
In a new SEC filing, the $9.7 billion fund disclosed ownership of 911,470 shares of Nio as of the end of May, up 48.55% from the 613,576 shares it held three months earlier.
The position was valued at $3.23 million at the time of the filing. Based on Tuesday’s closing price, the stake would now be worth over $4.29 million.
U.S.-listed shares of the Shanghai-based electric vehicle maker surged more than 10% on July 23, crossing the $5.25 mark and reaching a new four-month high.
The rally extended Nio’s one-month gain to more than 41% as the company prepares to launch on Thursday its highly anticipated six-seat SUV L90 under the Onvo sub-brand.
The latest addition by AVEM marks its most aggressive quarterly increase since it began accumulating Nio shares in early 2020, when it first reported a position of 3,429 shares.
Since then, the fund has steadily raised its holdings every quarter, even as broader institutional interest in the EV maker has more than halved.
Two other Avantis-managed vehicles also disclosed updated positions in Nio this week. AVSE — Avantis Responsible Emerging Markets Equity ETF — increased its holdings by 13.24% to 4,816 shares, while AVEEX — Avantis Emerging Markets Equity Fund Institutional Class — maintained a flat position at 17,882 shares.
AVEM’s strategy focuses on companies in emerging markets with lower valuations and stronger profitability profiles. The fund’s top holdings as of this week include Taiwan Semiconductor, Tencent Holdings, Samsung Electronics, and Alibaba Group.
The surge in Nio purchases came amid a broader wave of inflows to the ETF. In mid-May, AVEM recorded over $1 billion in weekly net inflows — the largest in its history — driven by improved investor sentiment toward emerging markets as the US signaled progress toward a potential trade resolution with China.
The inflows accounted for more than half of total capital entering US-listed emerging market ETFs that week, according to Bloomberg.
As of Wednesday, Nio had 467 institutional shareholders holding a combined 231,159,177 shares.
With some of the company’s largest institutional backers — including UBS Group AG, Morgan Stanley, Wolverine Asset Management, Jane Street Group, and Susquehanna International Group — yet to file their second-quarter updates, total institutional ownership figures are still evolving.
Since mid-2022, institutional holdings in Nio have declined by roughly 61%.
Among other notable Q2 portfolio changes, the Switzerland-based private bank Vontobel more than doubled its positions in Nio and XPeng, and expanded its stake in U.S.-based Rivian.
By the end of June, Vontobel held 1,094,398 shares of Nio worth $3.75 million, after adding over 608,000 shares during the quarter.
In contrast, IMC-Chicago — the U.S. subsidiary of Dutch investment firm IMC — sharply reduced its exposure to Nio.
The firm cut its common stock position by 58.1% to 644,280 shares, valued at $2.21 million at quarter-end. IMC also pared back its bullish options exposure on the EV maker, according to its regulatory filing.
As reported on Tuesday, Nio’s core brand recorded a 30% weekly increase in vehicle sales in the fourth week of July, with 3,250 insurance registrations across China, according to data shared on Chinese social media.
As exclusively reported by EV last week, Nio is offering discounts of up to 190,000 yuan ($26,480) on the ET7 sedan and EC7 coupe SUV.
Under the current promotion, the ET7 is priced from 230,000 yuan ($32,040) and the EC7 from 260,000 yuan ($36,220), compared to their original list prices of 420,000 yuan ($58,500) and 488,000 yuan ($68,000), respectively.
Registrations of Onvo vehicles fell 10%, while figures for the other sub-brand, Firefly, plunged 71% sequentially due to production issues that were solved late last week, according to the brand’s marketing head Pu Yiang.
As of the time of writing, Nio shares are trading 2% lower at $4.62 during Wednesday’s pre-market trading session.
