Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY) has been a standout electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft company this year with its shares up by about 80% year-to-date (YTD). Earlier this week, Joby announced that it had commenced the first-ever electric air taxi flight in New York City. The company also has plans with Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL) for NYC to become one of its early launch markets, pending the receipt of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification. Joby recently disclosed that its aircraft had completed 84% of the requirements for FAA Stage 3 certification.
Since 2017, Joby’s aircraft has now flown more than 30,000 miles through testing. Most of these miles have been flown remotely via a ground control station (GCS). Still, the company announced last month that it had begun flight testing with a pilot on board. By 2025, Joby expects to launch a commercial service to the public.
Aircraft production is also underway. The company announced in its third-quarter earnings that three aircrafts are currently being manufactured at its Pilot Production Facility.
All of these news developments are positives, but are institutional investors sold? Let’s take a look.
5 Investors Betting Big on JOBY Stock
Tracking institutional ownership is important, as these large investors provide liquidity and support for stocks. During Q3, 182 13F filers disclosed a stake in JOBY stock, an increase of 16 filers from the prior quarter. These filers own 251.69 million shares, up by an impressive 28.76% from 195.48 million shares last quarter. This is a significant increase in both filers and shares owned and conveys a bullish tone among institutional investors.
Meanwhile, the institutional put/call ratio tallied in at 0.81 as of the end of the third quarter. That’s equivalent to 3.79 million calls and 3.05 million puts, which also conveys a bullish tone.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at Joby’s top five shareholders as of Q3:
- Baillie Gifford: 51.05 million shares. Baillie sold off 819,710 shares during Q3.
- Capricorn Investment Group: 40.95 million shares. Capricorn’s position remained unchanged during Q3.
- Vanguard: 34.13 million shares. Vanguard acquired 5.81 million shares during Q3.
- Intel (NASDAQ:INTC): 33.70 million shares. Intel sold 3.12 million shares during Q3.
- BlackRock (NYSE:BLK): 20.94 million shares. BlackRock acquired 780,520 shares during Q3.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
