ARK Invest's legendary investor Cathie Wood just lightened up a bit on her Tesla stock holdings. But that doesn't much change who controls the S&P 500 stock.
Just seven investors — including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and ETF giants Vanguard and BlackRock — still own a third of the electric-vehicle maker's shares, says an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith.
ARK Invest may get lots of attention for its position in Tesla, but it's never been one of the very largest holders. It owned just 0.17% of Tesla stock, ranking it the 34th-largest owner even before it sold 393,000 shares this week.
And hanging onto Tesla stock is a good thing this year. Shares have more than doubled in value. That makes the company worth $820 billion, or the sixth-most-valuable stock in the S&P 500.
"Tesla share prices can't stop rallying despite hitting some extreme overbought levels," said Edward Moya of Oanda. "It is good to be the EV king, and right now it doesn't seem anyone is close to making a run at them."
Who Are The Big Tesla Owners?
Given Tesla's huge presence in the S&P 500, it's not surprising to see the giant index ETF firms owning some of the largest stakes.
Vanguard holds more than 220.6 million shares of Tesla, making it the No. 2 largest shareholder. That position accounts for nearly 7% of the company's shares outstanding. Those positions are used to populate the company's popular funds that hold large stakes in Tesla.
Three of the top 10 ETFs that own the most Tesla shares are Vanguard's. Those include Vanguard 500 Index, which alone owns 22.4 million shares, says ETF.com.
BlackRock, too, is a massive Tesla shareholder (ranked No. 3). It owns more than 178 million shares, or 5.6% of the shares outstanding. That's a 5.6% stake in the company. You'll find BlackRock heavy in Tesla via the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, which owns 23.8 million shares.
Both ETF companies own many more shares than ARK Innovation, which holds less than 4 million shares. But ARK Innovation is more closely associated with Tesla than Vanguard or BlackRock as it's placing a more concentrated bet.
Roughly 12% of ARK Innovation's portfolio is in Tesla alone, says ETF.com. The Vanguard 500 ETF, on the other hand, only puts 1.3% of its portfolio in Tesla to reflect its market-cap weight in the S&P 500.
Elon Musk Is Still The Tesla Stock King
Musk, the "technoking" of Tesla, has a downright regal influence in terms of TSLA stock ownership.
Unlike many other founders, who have largely lightened up on their ownership stakes, Musk still holds more Tesla stock than any other investor. He owns 411 million shares, or nearly 13% of shares outstanding. And again, that's been a smart move this year.
The value of Musk's position in Tesla this year alone is up $55.7 billion, taking his total stake in the company to $106.3 billion. Why would you ever want to sell that?
Top Owners Of Tesla Stock In The S&P 500
ARK Invest isn't even in the top 10.
| Tesla shareholders | Shares held | % of CSO |
|---|---|---|
| Elon Musk | 411,062,076 | 12.9% |
| Vanguard Group | 220,622,525 | 6.9 |
| BlackRock | 178,662,226 | 5.6 |
| State Street Global Advisors | 99,683,820 | 3.1 |
| Capital Research and Management | 53,140,900 | 1.6 |
| Geode Capital Management | 50,047,967 | 1.5 |
| Lawrence J. Ellison | 45,018,750 | 1.4 |
Sources: IBD, S&P Global Market Intelligence
Follow Matt Krantz on Twitter @mattkrantz
