It’s been another volatile day of trading as it currently stands this Wednesday. So far in today’s session, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has swung from heavy losses to light losses, and back to the middle.

At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down by a moderate 0.32% at just under 7,010 points.

So let’s dive deeper into these market moves and take stock of the shares that are presently at the top of the ASX 200’s share trading volume charts, according to investing.com.

The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Wednesday

Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO)

ASX 200 lithium stock Core Lithium is first up today. So far, a hefty 18.95 million Core Lithium shares have been traded on the share market this Wednesday. There’s been no major news out of the company at this point.

But Core Lithium seems to be extending its recent run. The company is up a healthy 2.14% today at $1.43 a share. This puts its gains over the past five trading days alone at an impressive 19.7%. It’s this rise that has probably prompted the high volumes we are seeing.

Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE)

Another ASX 200 lithium stock is next up with Lake Resources. So far today, a sizeable 38.87 million Lake shares have found a new home. We have a very similar situation playing out here it seems. Like Core Lithium, Lake Resources has had a run to remember in recent days.

It’s up a pleasing 4.44% at $1.30 this Wednesday, despite no fresh news or announcements out. Lake Resources shares have now put on an extraordinary 42.3% or so over the past five trading days. So it’s perhaps no wonder so many shares are flying around.

Imugene Limited (ASX: IMU)

Breaking the lithium pattern, our third and final ASX 200 share today is biotech company Imugene. This Wednesday has had a whopping 54.14 million Imugene shares swap hands as it currently stands.

This one isn’t too hard to figure out. Imugene shares are up a solid 10% today following the release of some clinical trial updates that we covered earlier.

The post Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• What’s going so wrong for ASX 200 tech shares on Wednesday?
• Why Graincorp, Imugene, iSelect, and Mayne Pharma shares are racing higher
• ASX investors are still feeling confident. Here’s why
• Why is ASX 200 gold share St Barbara sliding 10% today?
• Up 85% in a month, Lake Resources share price extends gains on Wednesday

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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It’s been a mildly negative day of trading for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has lost 0.27% and is back to around 7,011 points. But ASX 200 tech shares are doing far worse.

The S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology Index (ASX: XIJ) is currently the worst performing ASX 200 sector by far today. The XIJ Index is presently down a painful 3.52%, far worse than any other ASX 200 sector.

And as one might expect, this has led to many ASX 200 tech shares recording some heavy losses today.

ASX 200 tech shares lead the share market’s losses

Block Inc (ASX: SQ2) and Life360 Inc (ASX: 360) seem to be leading the charge. These tech shares are currently down a painful 5.55% and 6.3%, respectively

But we also have Computershare Limited (ASX: CPU) down more than 5% and Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) down more than 4.5%.

REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) and Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) have both fallen by over 3% today.

Lots of pain on the ASX 200 tech share front.

So what’s going on here? Why do investors have a bee in the proverbial bonnet over the ASX 200 tech sector today?

Well, it seems the most likely explanation comes from the United States markets. Last night was a pretty grim session over in the US for tech shares. The tech-heavy NASDAQ-100 (NASDAQ: NDX) ended up dropping 1.15%.

But we had some famous individual shares falling by far more. Electric car and battery manufacturer Tesla dropped 2.44%. Chip maker NVIDIA fell by almost 4%, as did Salesforce Inc.

ASX 200 tech shares tend to take their queue from their US counterparts, perhaps more than any other ASX sector. Thus, we often see corresponding moves, in both directions, on the ASX following sessions on the US markets.

This could be what we are witnessing in the ASX 200 tech sector this Wednesday.

The post What’s going so wrong for ASX 200 tech shares on Wednesday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• ASX investors are still feeling confident. Here’s why
• Why is ASX 200 gold share St Barbara sliding 10% today?
• ASX 200 better buy: Wesfarmers or Woolworths?
• Guess which ASX 200 share just upped its dividend by 25%
• Computershare share price plunges 6% following FY22 results

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Nvidia and Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Block, Inc., Life360, Inc., MEGAPORT FPO, Nvidia, Salesforce, Inc., Tesla, and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Block, Inc. and Xero. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended MEGAPORT FPO, Nvidia, REA Group Limited, and Salesforce, Inc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price has held a steady flight path throughout the day and is rangebound at the time of writing.

On last check, shares in the flying Kangaroo are 22 basis points higher on the day at $4.64 on no news.

In broad market moves, the S&P/ASX 200 Hotels Restaurants & Leisure Index (AXHRJD) is up less than 1% on the day. Yearly returns for Qantas are seen below.

What’s up with the Qantas share price?

Anyone keeping up with Australian news would be familiar with the current issues facing airlines with respect to baggage handling and processing delays.

If you haven’t – it’s as simple as that. Qantas in particular has been facing substantial delays and an increased rate of mishandled baggage.

The rate of baggages mishandled is now at 0.009%, or 9 in every 1,000 –which, might not seem like much, but when multiplied of hundred’s of thousands (perhaps even millions) of baggage items, the numbers start to stack up.

In response to the challenges, Qantas announced today that it will be increasing the waiting times between domestic to international flights by 30 minutes, in order to slow the pace of foot traffic through the airport.

Specifically, those travellers flying Qantas out of Australian airports will only have the option of a 90 minute connection time (60 minutes previously).

The moves are designed to reduce the number of baggage faults and hopefully improve the airline’s sluggish operating performance, after it made 1,700 employees redundant back in 2020, by outsourcing its baggage ground handling.

It’s thought today’s decision will attempt to “[bring] operations back to pre-COVID standards” as CEO Alan Joyce said, as Qantas continues to battle with ongoing staff shortages and worker-union action.

The Qantas share price is up nearly 3% for the past 12 months of trade.

The post Why is the Qantas share price beating the ASX 200 today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• ‘Downside is less severe’: Why some brokers are still bullish on the Qantas share price
• Qantas share price descends as management recruited for ground-handling work
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy today
• Why Core Lithium, European Lithium, Incannex, and Qantas shares are pushing higher
• ‘Higher costs and lower capacity’: Why this broker tips the Qantas share price to nosedive

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has followed the lead of US markets and dropped into the red. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.3% to 7,010.8 points.

Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here’s why they are racing higher:

Graincorp Ltd (ASX: GNC)

The Graincorp share price is up almost 6% to $8.08. This morning the grain exporter upgraded its earnings guidance for FY 2022. For the 12 months ending 30 September, Graincorp now expects underlying EBITDA to be in the range of $680 million to $730 million (from $590-$670 million) and underlying net profit after tax in the range of $365 million to $400 million (from $310-$370 million).

Imugene Limited (ASX: IMU)

The Imugene share price is up 10% to 29.7 cents. This follows news that the biotech company has dosed the first patient from the third cohort in the Checkvacc study at the City of Hope hospital in the US. The aim of this study is to activate the immune system of cancer patients to treat and eradicate tumours.

iSelect Ltd (ASX: ISU)

The iSelect share price has rocketed 73% higher to 27.75 cents. Investors have been buying this price comparison website operator after it accepted a takeover offer from Innovation Holdings Australia – the owner or rival website https://ift.tt/bGpyok5. The iSelect board is recommending shareholders vote in favour of the 30 cents per share offer at an upcoming scheme meeting.

Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (ASX: MYX)

The Mayne Pharma share price is up 6% to 36 cents. This morning this pharmaceutical company announced the sale of its Metrics Contract Services business to Catalent for cash consideration of US$475 million (~A$679 million). Allowing for reinvestment needs, the net proceeds from the sale will be used to repay the syndicated debt facility and to return surplus capital to shareholders.

The post Why Graincorp, Imugene, iSelect, and Mayne Pharma shares are racing higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why is the GrainCorp share price up 7% today?
• The CBA share price looks downright expensive
• Imugene share price lifts 11% on clinical trial update
• iSelect share price explodes 75% on takeover news
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Those who own shares in S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) supermarket operator Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) could be in for a good few years, with one top broker tipping the company to pay out 23% more dividends in financial year 2023 than it did in financial year 2021.

The broker is also feeling hopeful about the stock’s final dividend of financial year 2022, to be announced later this month.

The Coles share price is currently $18.81, 0.53% higher than its previous close.

For context, the ASX 200 is trading slightly lower today, falling 0.24%.

Let’s take a closer look at why Citi is bullish on Coles and its dividends.

Could Coles shares pay 75 cents of dividend in FY23?

Coles emerged as an ASX dividend share in 2018 shortly after the company was spun-out from Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES). Here’s how its fully fully-franked dividends have grown over the years:

• Financial year 2019 saw Coles offer 35.5 cents per share
• That increased to 57.5 cents per share for financial year 2020
• It was upped once more to reach 61 cents per share for financial year 2021

And it’s been tipped to continue growing its dividends into the future, as my Fool colleague James reports.

Citi believes Coles will pay out 65 cents per share for last financial year. Meaning, Coles’ next final dividend is expected to come in at 32 cents.

The broker also tips the company to offer shareholders 75 cents per share in financial year 2023 – a whopping 22.95% more than its most recent full year payout.

Whether the broker’s expectations are realised will be revealed soon. The supermarket operator is set to release its full-year earnings for financial year 2022 – alongside the details of its next dividend – on 24 August.

The broker has also slapped Coles shares with a $21 price target and a buy rating. That represents a potential 12% upside on its current level.

The post Top broker tips Coles shares to pay 23% more dividends in FY23 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• ASX 200 better buy: Wesfarmers or Woolworths?
• Brokers name 2 ASX dividend shares to buy
• 2 little-to-no-debt ASX 200 shares to buy in a downturn: fundie
• Is Coles an underrated ASX 200 dividend share with potential?
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week

Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended COLESGROUP DEF SET and Wesfarmers Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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You may be wondering why the Australian Foundation Investment Co. Ltd (ASX: AFI) share price is backtracking today.

At the time of writing, the listed investment company’s (LIC) shares are down 2.45% to $7.95 apiece.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s dragging down AFIC shares on Wednesday.

Shareholders lock in the AFIC dividend

With the earning seasons moving along, AFIC shares are trading ex-dividend today.

This comes after the LIC released its FY22 scorecard on 25 July, reporting double-digit growth across key financial metrics.

The board, however, opted to maintain its final dividend against the prior corresponding period.

The ex-dividend date is particularly important as it determines which shareholders will receive the company’s latest dividend.

If you held AFIC shares at yesterday’s market close, you will be eligible for the final dividend.

When can shareholders expect to be paid?

For those lucky enough to make it on the company’s register on time, you’ll receive a dividend payment of 14 cents per share on 30 August.

The dividend is fully franked at a corporate tax rate of 30%, which means you will receive some tax credits.

In addition, you can elect for the dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) which will add a portion of shares to your portfolio instead. This will be based on a five-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) from 10 August to 16 August.

The DRP discount rate is set at 5% and the last election date to opt in is on 12 August.

AFIC share price summary

After reaching a 52-week low of $7.40 on 20 June, the AFIC share price has rebounded these past few months.

Although, its shares are just below a key resistance level of around the $8.20 mark

If it can break this level, then AFIC shares could top out to $8.50 if the market remains stable.

Based on today’s price, AFIC commands a $9.7 billion market capitalisation and has a trailing dividend yield of 3.15%.

The post Why is the AFIC share price sliding today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• The CBA share price looks downright expensive
• Why I prefer AFIC shares to an ASX 200 index fund today
• Keen to bag the next AFIC dividend? Read this
• Why did the AFIC share price have such a top run in July?
• Why is the AFIC share price outperforming on Monday?

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Polynovo Ltd (ASX: PNV) share price is in the red on Wednesday afternoon following an update from the company regarding its NovoSorb SynPath product.

During the opening bell, the medical device company’s shares started the day at $2.11 before quickly sinking to $2.04 apiece.

However, a sharp recovery led the share price to climb into positive territory to $2.14. Since then, the share has retraced to $2.10, down 0.94%.

The broader S&P/ASX 200 Healthcare Index (ASX: XHJ) is also in the red at the time of writing. It’s 1.35% lower.

Let’s check the details of the company’s latest update.

What did Polynovo announce?

In its announcement, Polynovo advised that it has enrolled its first patient in the clinical trial of NovoSorb SynPath.

The randomised controlled trial (RCT) is aimed at evaluating the safety and efficacy of the product for patients suffering from chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs).

The trial is being conducted across eight sites in the United States. These include the centre for Clinical Research Inc. in San Francisco, California and Barry University in Miami, Florida.

Polynovo is hoping for SynPath to be used as a standard of care for people affected by DFUs.

Management is planning to recruit up to 138 people for the study. This is expected to be completed by April 2023.

The goal is to measure the percentage of ulcers that are fully healed at the end of a 12-week period.

The addressable market opportunity is massive for Polynovo as DFUs affect more than 300,000 people in the United States annually. This accounts for more than US$9 billion in annual expenditure.

Globally, the DFUs’ addressable market was valued at $US7.03 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $US11.05 billion by 2027.

What did management say?

Commenting on the update, Polynovo CEO Swami Raote said:

We are thrilled to have initiated our trial utilising NovoSorb SynPath for the treatment of chronic diabetic foot ulcers. This critical milestone has us on the road to help more patients with non-healing chronic wounds and to further investigate the benefits of our novel technology for these wound types.

SynPath is leveraging our successes in the acute care setting with NovoSorb BTM and allows us to expand our offering to the outpatient setting for clinicians dedicated to changing the lives of their patients.

Polynovo chair David Williams added:

Many surgeons are already successfully using BTM for the treatment of DFUs, but the time has come for a specific product to treat DFUs and venous leg ulcers. The trial will provide valuable data for surgeons and importantly, also put us on the path to reimbursement.

Polynovo share price summary

After hitting a multi-year low of 83.5 cents on 5 May, the Polynovo share price has rocketed by more than 150%.

The company’s non-executive director David Williams notably took advantage of the share price weakness, loading up on his holdings.

In the past three months, Williams has bought more than $5.5 million of Polynovo shares.

It appears the spending spree has paid off with the company’s shares hitting a year-to-date high of $2.14 today.

The post What’s with the Polynovo share price on Wednesday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why is the Polynovo share price powering 6% on Tuesday?
• Why is the Polynovo share price popping 7% on Wednesday?
• These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares
• ‘Transformation growth’: Polynovo share price jumps 7% on new leadership
• Why IDP, PolyNovo, Sezzle, and St Barbara shares are pushing higher

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended POLYNOVO FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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2022 thus far has given ASX investors many challenges. For starters, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has had a pretty tough year until now. We may have seen the ASX 200 rally a healthy 9.2% since 20 June.

But the index is still down by a hefty 7.4% year to date. It’s also gone backwards by a similar amount over the past 12 months.

It’s not hard to see that most investor concerns have revolved around rising inflation, and a corresponding ratcheting-up of global interest rates. Not to mention the fears of a looming recession as a result.

So with all of this going on, one might assume that ASX investors’ confidence in the markets has taken a hit. But that is not entirely the case if new research from Syfe is to be believed.

Syfe, a digital investment platform, has just released its Syfe Investor Pulse 2022 research.

According to the research, 58% of investor respondents “remain confident they will still achieve their [investing] goals”, although 40% said this might not occur within the initially-planned timeframe.

Further, 66% of those surveyed stated that they are adopting a “longer-term, passive approach”. In contrast, just 7% of those surveyed are considering selling their investments.

Interestingly, 16% of respondents stated they are “looking to add more defensive assets such as bonds”. In contrast, 12% said they plan to “invest in more aggressive, high-risk assets“.

ASX investors remain confident in crypto, ETFs…

This could include cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC). Though 41% of respondents are already invested in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. In fact, cryptos are now “on par with property as a future investment vehicle,” according to the research.

It also finds that demand for crypto, international shares, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is “outpacing more traditional investments”.

But a long-term investing mindset is also on the rise. Syfe found that 74% of respondents are investing for a time horizon of up to 10 years. And 51% of respondents only entered the markets in the past five years.

Here’s some of what general manager for Syfe Australia, Tim Wallace, had to say on these findings:

While the prevailing wisdom is that the market is saturated and that economic indicators are dampening investor sentiment, the research results reinforce our belief that Australian investors are resilient and firmly focused on financial security.

They are seeking to grow their knowledge and tap into diversified investment offerings like international shares and crypto in order to build for the longer-term.

An interesting insight into ASX investors right now. Hopefully, this confidence pays off, but we’ll have to see what the rest of 2022 brings us.

The post ASX investors are still feeling confident. Here’s why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why is ASX 200 gold share St Barbara sliding 10% today?
• ASX 200 better buy: Wesfarmers or Woolworths?
• I think these ASX 200 dividend shares look like good income picks after reporting
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Wednesday
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Those invested in Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) shares might remember recent comments by Australian federal treasurer Jim Chalmers who slammed banks for not passing interest rate rises onto savings accounts.

Well, ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott hit back at such claims this week, outlining the bank’s moves to raise savings rates.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s going on with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) bank.

At the time of writing, the ANZ share price is $23.42, up 3.17% so far today.

ANZ boss responds to treasurer’s criticism

ANZ shares might be front of mind this week after the bank’s CEO responded to criticism from the federal treasurer.

Speaking before the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) upped the official interest rate to 1.85% last week, Chalmers said decisions made by some banks to increase interest rates on loans without increasing those on savings accounts were “really disappointing”. He told Sunrise:

I feel like people who are relying on their savings, they’ve been the principal victims of interest rates at historic lows for some time now.

There needs to be a silver lining in these interests going up and that’s for savers, people who need and deserve better interest rates.

But Elliott clapped back at such suggestions, saying the comments were “a bit unfair”.

The CEO told 3AW Mornings yesterday the bank “put[s] [its] best foot forward on a savings product”, continuing:

We’ve got a savings account out there, at-call; 2.5% … You’ll find that that’s the highest rate of any major bank out there and I think that’s exactly where it should be … given where the cash rate is.

The bank increased rates on ANZ Plus Save accounts with balances of less than $250,000 by 0.5% to 2.5% on Monday following the RBA’s latest hike.

It also announced a new 11-month Advance Notice term deposit rate of 3% and noted it was reviewing other savings rates.

ANZ share price snapshot

The ANZ share price is the worst performing of the ‘big four’ bank stocks of 2022 so far.

It’s slipped 14% year to date. Meanwhile, the ASX 200 has slumped 5.7% in that time.

The bank’s shares have also dumped 18% over the last 12 months while the index has fallen 7%.

The post ‘It’s a bit unfair’: Here’s why ANZ shares are making news this week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) shareholders woke up (well, in Australia) to some interesting news this morning. Tesla’s totemic CEO Elon Musk has been selling shares.

The Tesla stock price had a rough night of trading last night (our time). The electric vehicle and battery manufacturer ended up dropping by a hefty 2.44% and closed at US$850 a share. It was only last week that the company hit a three-month high of $925 or so.

That means Tesla shares have now fallen 8.2% since Thursday last week. Saying that though, the company is still up almost 21% over the past month.

But many investors might be a little perturbed to find out that Musk has been selling shares in the company he helms. Regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show that Musk offloaded dozens of tranches of Tesla shares between 5 August and 9 August.

All up, Musk ended up selling around US$7 billion worth of the company’s shares. These sales were executed at share prices ranging from approximately US$896 to US$857 a share.

This is the first time Musk has sold shares in Tesla since his ill-fated attempt to purchase the social media company Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR). Musk initially sold shares to help fund the takeover, but this has sensationally been abandoned since. Albeit not without some legal action.

When a CEO or any management member sells out of their company’s shares, it can often cause some consternation amongst investors. After all, a CEO (especially Elon Musk) is supposed to be ‘cheerleader in chief’ for their company. Thus, it’s hard to spin a sale of shares as a vote of confidence in said company’s future.

Why is a CEO like Elon Musk selling Tesla shares?

But the reality is that Elon Musk, like many billionaires, has the vast majority of his wealth tied up in shares. Many of his other companies, such as Space-X, are private, which means that it is far harder to sell those shares.

So if Musk wanted (or needed) to free up some cash – maybe he wants to buy a new house, or island –  he might have little choice but to sell some of the vast stake he owns in the publically-traded Tesla.

But even though Musk has offloaded around US$7 billion in Tesla shares over the past week, he still owns just over 155 million shares. That means his remaining Tesla stake is still worth roughly US$131.78 billion. Not quite a drop in the ocean. But no one can argue that Musk no longer has skin in the game.

At the last Tesla share price, this US tech titan has a market capitalisation of US$887.82 billion. Tesla stock is still up more than 1,700% over the past three years.

The post Elon Musk just sold US$7 billion worth of Tesla shares. What’s going on? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why the Tesla share price sank today
• Tesla shareholders approved a 3-for-1 stock split — is the stock a buy?
• Here’s why Tesla stock popped today
• Think you can’t afford to buy Tesla shares? Think again…
• Why Tesla and other EV stocks rocketed higher in July

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Tesla. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Tesla and Twitter. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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