Citigroup has surged to become the fourth-largest institutional shareholder in Nio after increasing its stake in the Chinese electric vehicle maker by over 400% during the first quarter of 2025.
As reported by EV this week, UBS added over 30 million shares in the same period, reaffirming its position as the company’s largest institutional shareholder.
JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs reduced their positions significantly.
As of the end of March, Citigroup held roughly 7.31 million shares in Nio, up from just 1.37 million three months earlier.
The regulatory filing showed that the third-largest U.S. lender added nearly 5.94 million shares during the quarter — the largest quarterly increase ever recorded by Citigroup in the Shanghai-based EV maker.
This marks a 434.1% jump in its holdings, also a record high in percentage terms for the firm since it first opened a position in Nio in late 2018, shortly after the Nasdaq debut.
Based on the filing, the value of Citigroup’s stake stood at approximately $30.17 million at the end of March.
The U.S. bank is behind only UBS Group AG, Morgan Stanley, and Susquehanna International Group in terms of total shares held.
Citigroup first disclosed a position in Nio in Q3 2018 with just 9,135 shares and steadily increased its exposure over the years.
Its ownership peaked in the third quarter of 2019 with over 4.99 million shares — a level it surpassed for the first time this quarter.
JP Morgan Chase disclosed this week that it nearly exited its position in the first quarter.
Additionally, the bank sold 97% of its call options on Nio while simultaneously buying put options, betting on a potential decline in the stock.
Institutional investors have steadily reduced their exposure to Nio over the years, amid the company’s prolonged share price decline.
According to Fintel, Nio has 484 institutional investors holding about 208.7 million shares, plunging by over 60% from early 2022.
Back then, institutions held nearly 600 million shares, and the stock traded in the $15—$25 range.
The stock reached an all-time high of $66.99 in January 2021. Since then, Nio shares have shrunk 93.8%, closing at $4.13 on Wednesday.
Goldman Sachs also trimmed its position in Nio to a six-year low, EV reported over the weekend.
BlackRock increased its stake in the company by 64.9% in the first quarter of 2025.
Nio Group saw its main brand deliver 19,269 vehicles in April, increasing both sequentially (from 10,219) and year over year (from 15,620).
Across the three brands, the Group expects to double vehicle deliveries this year to about 440,000 units.
