Markets

Tesla holdings are slashed by T. Rowe Price funds in the latest cuts by the investor

Key Points
  • T. Rowe Price funds slashed Tesla holdings in the first quarter, as the institutional investor continued to cut its positions in the electric vehicle maker.
  • The firm, which has been one of the largest investors in the Silicon Valley company, sold off 92% of its prior holdings in the company during the quarter, Refinitiv data showed.
Elon Musk
Mike Blake | Reuters

T. Rowe Price funds slashed Tesla holdings in the first quarter, data showed on Wednesday, as the institutional investor continued to cut its positions in the electric vehicle maker.

The firm, which has been one of the largest investors in the Silicon Valley company, sold off 92% of its prior holdings in the company during the quarter, Refinitiv data showed.

That drop represented the funds for which Refinitiv has data, which may not include all T. Rowe Price funds, which are managed by T. Rowe Price Group.

Neither Tesla nor T. Rowe Price were immediately available to comment after normal business hours.

The data showed sales between the end of last year and March 31 that ranged from 25% of holdings in the T. Rowe Price Global Growth Stock Fund to 100% of holdings at the Growth Stock Fund, which had held 2.1 million shares.

In total, six funds cut their Tesla holdings by 100%.

T. Rowe Price's next-largest Tesla holding, within the Blue Chip Growth Fund, with 1.8 million shares, was cut by 82%.

Most recently, T. Rowe Price reduced its stake in the fourth-quarter of last year by roughly half, ending December with a 5.2% stake in the company overall versus 10.12% in September.

Shares of Tesla fell 16% during the first quarter, a difficult period for the company marked by a sharp drop in deliveries of its Model 3, and Chief Executive Elon Musk's public battle in the courts with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.