Cathie Wood Sells 99% of Silvergate Stake as Customers Flee

(Bloomberg) — One of Cathie Wood’s funds sold virtually all of its shares in Silvergate Capital Corp. after the cryptocurrency-focused bank announced that it was forced to sell assets at a steep loss as customers pulled out most of their deposits during the fourth quarter.

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Her ARK Fintech Innovation exchange-traded fund unloaded roughly 404,000 shares of Silvergate on Thursday, cutting the ETF’s holdings by more than 99%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The fund’s remaining holdings, which amount to less than 4,000 shares, are worth about $43,000 — only about 0.01% of the fund’s total portfolio.

Silvergate told investors on Thursday that customers’ deposits of digital assets tumbled from $11.9 billion to $3.8 billion during the fourth quarter, when the fallout from the FTX collapse rattled investors’ faith in cryptocurrency lenders. The exodus forced it to sell securities and related derivatives at a loss of $718 million.

The revelation sent Silvergate shares down by a record 43% Thursday, and they slipped as much as 6.9% more on Friday. The stock has been in a downward spiral for more than a year amid the deepening crypto industry rout. Since its record closing high of $222.13 in November 2021, the stock has fallen more than 94%, erasing about $5.5 billion in market value.

Read more: Crypto Panic at Silvergate Spawns a New Breed of Bank Run

Wood’s decision to almost completely exit her position is a swift reversal from just two months ago, when her ARK Fintech Innovation fund purchased more than 200,000 shares of the bank in the span of a week as the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange deepened concerns about the finances of crypto companies. She previously sold about 190,000 shares of Silvergate in mid-December when it was trading at around $19 a share, roughly 50% above Thursday’s closing level.

She is isn’t the only one to sour on Silvergate after Thursday’s announcement either. At least eight analysts cut their price targets on the stock, including Canaccord Genuity’s Joseph Vafi, who slashed his from $150 to $25. The reductions brought the crypto bank’s average 12-month target price down to $19.45, still some 55% above Thursday’s close.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Steven Alexopoulos was one of three analysts tracked by Bloomberg to downgrade their recommendation on the stock, cutting his rating to neutral from overweight. He also cut his price target by more than 50% to $14 from $30. Craig-Hallum’s George Sutton downgraded the stock to hold from buy, while Bank of America Corp. analyst Brandon Berman cut Silvergate to underperform from neutral.

“The circumstances surrounding Silvergate are very challenging and the near-term is hard to predict,” Sutton wrote in a note to clients. “It must contend with a continuance of crypto winter, regulatory inquiries, and potential legislative action, which challenges the potential growth profile materially.”

(Updates with BofA downgrade, Friday trading)