GraniteShares: Most shorted UK listed companies: Analysis reveals top 10 most shorted UK stocks and most active funds managers for shorting
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Analysis reveals top 10 most shorted uk stocks and most active fund managers for shorting
New analysis from ETP provider GraniteShares, which offers a range of 3x short and 3x leveraged ETPs on popular UK and US stocks, reveals that as of 12th July 2021, Cineworld Group, the world’s second-largest cinema chain, was the most shorted UK listed company. Some 7.5% of its stock was held short by six investment firms, with New Holland Capital LLC the largest short position with 2.42% of the company’s shares.
The next most shorted UK listed companies were Sainsbury (J) Plc, Petropavlovsk Plc, Hammerson Plc and Domino’s Pizza Group Plc where the respective short positions were 6.9%, 6.2%, 5.8% and 4.8% respectively. The table shows the largest ten short positions in companies that are listed and trading on the London Stock Exchange.
| Company | Percentage of stock held short | Number of funds shorting the stock |
| Cineworld Group | 7.5% | 6 |
| Sainsbury (J) Plc | 6.9% | 6 |
| Petropavlovsk Plc | 6.2% | 3 |
| Hammerson Plc | 5.8% | 5 |
| Domino’s Pizza Group Plc | 4.8% | 7 |
| Network International Holdings Plcoldings | 4.1% | 4 |
| Tullow Oil Plc | 4.0% | 3 |
| Metro Bank Plc | 3.6% | 2 |
| Ultra Electronics Hldgs Plc | 3.6% | 1 |
| Wood Group (John) Plc | 3.6% | 4 |
Source: London Stock Exchange, updated on 12th July 2021
Among the stocks tracked by GraniteShares ETPs, Vodafone Group is the 38th most shorted stock, with two fund managers holding short positions representing 1.5% of the outstanding stock.
In terms of which fund managers had the most short positions on UK listed companies, the analysis reveals GLG Partners LP had the highest number with 18. This was followed by BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, Jupiter Investment Management Limited, Marshall Wace LLP, and AQR Capital Management LLC with 11, 11, 11 and 10 short positions respectively.
| Fund Manager | Number of short positions |
| GLG Partners LP | 18 |
| BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited | 11 |
| Jupiter Investment Management Limited | 11 |
| Marshall Wace LLP | 11 |
| AQR Capital Management LLC | 10 |
| Citadel Europe LLP | 9 |
| JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Ltd | 9 |
| Ennismore Fund Management Limited | 8 |
| Gladstone Capital Management LLP | 6 |
| Millennium International Management LP | 5 |
Source: London Stock Exchange, updated on 12th July 2021
Will Rhind, Founder and CEO of GraniteShares, said: “Shorting stocks used to be the exclusive pursuit of institutional investors, but sophisticated individual investors are now increasingly doing this. The value of funds invested in our 3x short single stock ETPs listed on the London Stock Exchange was around $35m million on December 1st 2020, but this increased to around $140m by July this year.
“There is still a high degree of market uncertainty around the Covid-19 pandemic, and the strength of the global economic recovery, which is contributing towards a more attractive environment for shorting certain stocks.”
Source: ETFWorld.co.uk
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