It's been a relatively positive start to the trading day for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) so far this Tuesday. At present, the ASX 200 has gained a healthy 0.5%, vaulting the index back above 7,260 points. But let's talk about ASX 200 lithium share Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS).
Pilbara shares are also having a positive day. The leading lithium producer is currently up by a pleasing 0.48% at $4.22 a share, about the same gain as the broader market.
This rise comes despite news that a very large block of Pilbara shares has just been sold.
According to reporting in the Australia Financial Review (AFR) today, an investor has just offloaded more than $250 million worth of Pilbara shares.
Yes, according to the report, ASX broker UBS has just processed a $250 million parcel of Pilbara shares. That would be worth around 2% of the company's entire market capitalisation.
The parcel was sold this morning, at a share price of $4.10. That's a little lower than the shares have publically traded at today.
Who has been selling Pilbara shares?
There are reportedly rumours that this chunk of shares has been offloaded by major shareholder Contemporary Amperex Technology (Hong Kong) Limited (CATL). CATL owned a 6.9% stake in Pilbara before market open this morning. CATL has been an investor in Pilbara Minerals since 2019, when it invested $55 million into the company at 30 cents a share.
So if this sale was indeed initiated by CATL, it would represent a pleasing 1,267% return for the company over just four years.
That's all we know for now.
It is interesting timing for CATL if this company is indeed behind this chunky sale. It was only last week that Pilbara reported its latest half-year earnings.
Investors were delighted when Pilbara announced a 305% surge in sales to $2.18 billion. Not to mention a 989% spike in statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) to $1.24 billion. The company also declared its maiden dividend, an interim payment worth 11 cents per share.
Pilbara shares have had a pleasing run in 2023 thus far. The lithium share is up a healthy 16.44% year to date. Today, the shares are sitting 55.35% higher than where they were a year ago. However, the company is also a good 25% or so below its all-time high of $5.66 a share that we saw back in November last year:
At the current Pilbara share price, this ASX 200 lithium share has a market capitalisation of $12.62 billion, with a forward dividend yield of 2.61%.
