However, there has been a slight reduction in the proportion of its stock out on loan which now stands at 7.25 per cent compared to the 8 per cent of April.
Sainsbury’s, Quindell and Ocado are among the other high-profile stocks to have significant bets made against them.
Ashmore is down 8.4 per cent this year, although this represents something of a revival for the stock which fell 26 per cent between 9 January and 14 March.
Performance of stock vs index in 2014
Source: FE Analytics
The fund manager has been hit hard by outflows on the back of poor performance in emerging markets.
This was also the case with Aberdeen Asset Management, which was regularly on the list of the most-shorted stocks until recently.
Fund managers have been reducing their short positions in the latter stock, however, and it no longer appears on the lists.
One notable stock to appear on the list is Quindell, which has 5.75 per cent of its stock out with the short sellers.
Quindell announced today that it would not be admitted to the main list of the UK stock market and would remain on AIM.
This came as a surprise to many private investors, but a number of professionals seem to have been positioned for it.
Quindell is down 60.29 per cent since early April, according to data from FE Analytics.
Performance of stock vs index in 2014
Source: FE Analytics
This followed allegations of accounting malpractice which the company strongly denied. The company said the failure to achieve a listing was down to the fact that the business had grown too fast in the previous three years meaning it fell foul of listing rule 6.1.3.
Companies have to present accounts for the three years prior to listing and the rapid change in the scale of Quindell’s business made them fail to meet the requirements, according to the company.
Performance of stock vs index over 3yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Quindell shares were down a further 20 per cent at the close of yesterday’s market on the news, with many investors having expected the stock to get a boost from joining the main market.
Sainsbury’s is another to have significant bets against it, as has been the case for some time. As much as 5.5 per cent of the company’s stock is being sold short, making it the sixth most-shorted stock on the market.
Rival Morrisons is in 10th, with 5 per cent of its stock sold short.
Sainsbury’s announced a second fall in sales in succession yesterday, and chief executive Justin King announced he was to leave the company.
The past two quarters of negative growth follow nine years of consecutive growth, but it is not just Sainsbury’s under pressure.
Morrisons also reported disappointing results in recent weeks, and suffered a loss of £176m last year.
Performance of stocks vs index over 1yr
Source: FE Analytics
Other stocks in which fund managers have significant short positions include WH Smith, Weir Group and Dialight.
Weir Group and WH Smith have also been frequent members on this list in recent months.
