UBS, the largest institutional shareholder in Nio, dumped nearly 60% of its position in the third quarter, despite the surge in the US-listed shares of the Chinese electric vehicle maker.
The Zurich-based bank disclosed in a regulatory filing that it held 28.78 million shares of Nio as of September 30, down from 70.15 million shares at the end of June.
The reduction of 41.37 million shares represents a 58.98% stake cut during the quarter.
The value of UBS’s position fell to $179.6 million from $219.3 million in the previous quarter.
Nio shares rebounded at the beginning of the third quarter amid the pre-launch of the L90, a three-row SUV under the sub-brand Onvo which was priced significantly lower than expected.
The third quarter reduction marks the bank’s most aggressive exit since it began holding a significant Nio position.
As of September 30, UBS held 9,586 total positions with a combined market value of $511.3 billion. The firm’s largest holdings are Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple.
Nio represents less than 0.04% of UBS’s total portfolio value.
From Accumulation to Liquidation
The position of the Swiss bank in Nio fluctuated significantly over recent quarters before the third quarter selloff.
The bank had been building its stake through much of 2024 before reversing course in 2025. In the second quarter of 2025, UBS reduced its position by 20.17%, selling 10.92 million shares.
Prior to that, the bank had actually increased its stake by 32.03% in the first quarter of 2025, adding 13.68 million shares.
During 2024, UBS generally accumulated shares.
The bank increased its position by 2.06 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024 and by 14.80% in the third quarter of that year.
The second quarter of 2024 saw the largest percentage increase, with UBS adding 40.35% to its holdings.
Timing and Peak Valuation
The current share price represents a collapse from Nio‘s all-time high of $66.99 reached in January 2021.
At that peak, Nio shares hit their highest level when the company introduced the ET7, the first product of its NT2.0 platform.
The EV maker simultaneously announced it would be present across 25 regions by 2025.
Since that January 2021 peak, Nio has launched two sub-brands focused on the mass market segment with significantly lower purchasing prices when compared to the Nio brand, which maintains the premium segment as its target.
Other Institutional Shareholders
As reported on Thurday, the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock has trimmed its stake in Nio in the third quarter.
The reduction is the first this year as BlackRock had increased its holdings in the company in the first two quarters of the year by 1.35 million and 410,000 shares, respectively.
As reported earlier this week, Citigroup has slightly decreased its stake in Nio for the second consecutive quarter.
London-based RWC Asset Management acquired 10.46 million Nio shares in the previous quarter, marking its return to the stock nearly five years after exiting its position.
Similarly, WT Asset Management has purchased over $18.6 million shares between July and September, after having exited its position in the automaker in late 2021.
WT and RWD currently place second and third among other institutional shareholders of the EV maker.
JPMorgan Chase, which used to be one of Nio‘s top 10 largest institutional investors, has reduced its stake in the electric vehicle maker by 30% during the third quarter, selling over 1.49 million shares.
