GetCoattail Research — Spotify is the market's argument about whether streaming scale converts to durable profit: 300 million Premium subscribers, a record gross margin, targets far above the price — and an earnings-per-share miss. We ran it through every filing lens we maintain. Seven of our 83 superinvestors hold it long — 1,865,791 shares — one of them is 62.8% of that cohort, which cut its share count 27.76% in Q2 while insiders sold 55 transactions in 90 days without a single purchase in the parsed record.
Start with the narrative: scale, delivered; earnings, debated. Spotify reported second-quarter 2026 results on August 4: total revenue of €4.8 billion, up 14% year over year, Premium subscribers up 9% to 300 million — one million above the company's own guidance — and monthly active users up 12% to 777 million, one million below guidance. Operating income reached €655 million, up 61%, and gross margin hit a record 33.4%. The counterweight was the bottom line: earnings per share of $3.03 missed the Zacks consensus figure of $3.27. Third-quarter guidance points to 788 million users and 305 million Premium subscribers. Targets sit well above the price: MarketBeat's consensus average stood near $590 to $594 in early-October coverage, Evercore ISI raised its target from $650 to $700 on September 29, KeyBanc trimmed $680 to $660 on October 1, UBS trimmed $690 to $675, and Piper Sandler opened coverage at neutral with a $540 target on October 8. The stock closed at $472.89 on October 2 in our price file; the next report is scheduled for October 22. AltIndex's 24-hour Reddit ranking places Spotify twentieth, at 84 mentions — the highest-ranked stock we had not yet audited.
Now the filings. GetCoattail tracks the investors best placed to know any company: superinvestors, institutions, insiders, Congress, and 5% holders. For Spotify — the twenty-eighth Filing Tape audit — the story is concentration at every level: a seven-holder cohort that is mostly one holder, a single-name 5% register, insiders who sold $98,923,553.67 in the parsed record without one purchase, and a borrow that fell by a quarter in a single settlement.
Lens 1: the superinvestors — seven holders, and one of them is the cohort
We track 83 large, mostly long-only managers whose 13F portfolios we collect directly from SEC EDGAR. As of June 30, 2026, 7 held Spotify long — long rows, no option rows — totalling 1,865,791 shares worth $856,640,772. The direction count: one new, one increased, three decreased, two unchanged.
The largest holder is most of the register. Tiger Global Management reported 1,171,427 shares worth $537,837,279, a 2.24% portfolio weight, decreased 25.9% — 62.8% of the entire cohort alone. ValueAct Capital reported 526,800 shares worth $241,869,684, a 4.29% weight, increased 46.9%. Tiger and ValueAct together are 91.0% of the cohort; the top three — adding Polen Capital Management, with 81,578 shares worth $37,455,057, a 0.32% weight, decreased 24.1% — are 95.4%. Behind them: Greenlea Lane Capital, new with 39,370 shares at a 4.96% weight; Markel, 25,900 shares unchanged; Cantillon Capital Management, 20,216 shares after a 95.4% cut from 439,353 shares in the first-quarter pipeline file; and RV Capital, 500 shares unchanged. On both the EDGAR collection and the pipeline's CUSIP basis, the cohort total ran from 2,582,718 shares at March 31 to 1,865,791 at June 30 — down 27.76% — in a quarter when the price moved from $484.91 to $459.13, down 5.3%. The cohort's reported value implies $459.13 per share, matching the June 30 close exactly.
Lens 2: institutions — the full market held steady while the tracked cohort cut
Zoom out to the whole 13F market and the register is broad and calm. At June 30, 2026, 1,243 institutions reported positions, down from 1,261 at March 31 (−1.43%), and 1,238 reported long positions. Reported shares rose 1.46%, from 132,562,434 to 134,497,655 shares, with 1,058 filers entering and 1,076 exiting. Reported aggregate value fell 4.49% to $64,236,877,376; the aggregate includes option rows, so we headline filer and share counts and label dollars "reported" (see methodology). The implied value per share, $477.61, sits 4.0% above the June 30 close of $459.13. The full market added shares on a flat holder count in the same quarter the tracked cohort cut more than a quarter of its position.
Lens 3: the 5% register — one name, two filings, nothing since August 2025
Two SC 13D/G filings cover Spotify in our full parse — zero in the 13D family and two in the 13G family, one an amendment, both from a single reporter, Baillie Gifford & Co. Its amendment, filed April 30, 2025, reports 10,838,982 shares (5.3%) as of March 31, 2025. Its later filing, on August 8, 2025, reports 9,628,910 shares (4.7%) as of June 30, 2025 — down 11.2%, and below the 5% reporting line. We report the rows as filed and do not sum them: the aggregate's combined field adds two different dates for the same holder, which would double-count (see methodology). Nothing in this register is newer than August 2025.
Lens 4: insiders — 55 sales in 90 days, and no purchase in the parsed record
The parsed Form 4 record holds 49 filings through October 2, 2026. Across it there is not one open-market purchase — zero purchase transactions, zero shares, $0.00, by zero buyers, in every window the aggregation reports. Against that stand 64 sales totalling 199,575.27 shares and $98,923,553.67, by six sellers, 61 of the 64 recorded as officer sales. The last 90 days hold 55 of those sales: 77,261.26 shares and $39,213,355.58, by three sellers, all 55 recorded as officer sales. One scope note matters: the aggregation's full-record and one-year windows are identical (49 filings in each), so the parse holds no Spotify filings before October 3, 2025 — "never" here means never in the parsed record (see methodology). Our site's insider aggregate (October 10, 2026) agrees on zero purchases and three sellers over 90 days but counts 33 sale transactions totalling $26,631,852.27 — it does not match the full-parse figures, and we report the difference rather than averaging it away (see methodology). Some selling is mechanical — vesting, tax withholding and pre-arranged plans — and we assign no motives to any of it.
Lens 5: Congress — no purchases, one sale, no Senate record
Across the congressional record we maintain (combined record as of October 3, 2026), Spotify's register holds no purchase transactions and one sale transaction, with no most-recent purchase date. The record sits in the House file; the Senate aggregate (as of October 1, 2026) carries no Spotify record. The combined aggregate's member-count field reads zero alongside that one sale — a quirk we report rather than resolve (see methodology). Congressional disclosures report value ranges, so this lens records direction and counts only.
Lens 6: short interest — down 26.11% in one settlement, at 2.20% of the share count
As of September 15, 2026 — the most recent FINRA settlement date — 4,522,956 Spotify shares were sold short, with days-to-cover of 3.22, down 26.11% from the prior settlement. The series peak stands at 8,407,662 shares on December 13, 2024, so the latest reading is 46.2% below the peak; the June 30, 2026 settlement recorded 6,297,025 shares, so the borrow has eased 28.2% since quarter-end. Against the 205,832,527 shares in our fundamentals file (as of December 31, 2025), the borrow is 2.20% of the reported share count. Year over year, the borrow is down 33.0% from 6,755,592 shares on September 15, 2025.
The recent settlements run 6,561,019 on July 15, then 6,458,984, 4,928,432, 6,121,444 and 4,522,956 — a choppy descent: the borrow rebuilt between August 14 and August 31 before falling by a quarter. The series began at 3,870,022 shares on January 15, 2021; its lowest reading is 1,532,936 on December 15, 2023. At 2.20% of the share count and 3.22 days to cover, the borrow is small — and shrinking.
The gap, stated plainly
The registers describe a stock whose story is scale while its filing record is concentration and one-way insider flow. Seven of 83 tracked superinvestors hold Spotify, their cohort's share count fell 27.76% in a quarter when the price fell 5.3%, and 62.8% of what remains sits with one holder, Tiger Global, which itself decreased 25.9%. The full market moved the other way on shares — filers down 1.43% to 1,243, reported shares up 1.46% to 134,497,655. The 5% register holds one name: Baillie Gifford, down from 5.3% to 4.7%, silent since August 2025. Insiders have sold 64 transactions totalling $98,923,553.67 in the parsed record — 55 of them, worth $39,213,355.58, in the last 90 days — against zero purchases. Congress registers one sale and nothing in the Senate file. And the borrow, at 4,522,956 shares and 2.20% of the share count, is down 33.0% in a year. One plausible reading is that the exit doors are quieter than the entrance story: shorts covering, insiders selling into a target-rich narrative, conviction narrowed to two large holders. The record supports each clause separately; it does not say which register is right.
What would change the picture
Nothing above is a recommendation. It is a record. These are the filings that would change the description:
- 1. The 2026Q3 13Fs (filing window closing mid-November 2026). Whether Tiger's 1,171,427 shares survived the quarter, whether ValueAct's increase to 526,800 shares continued, and whether the holder count moves off seven, is the whole lens: with the top three at 95.4% of the cohort, a single filer's decision rewrites this register.
- 2. A first insider open-market purchase, ever — in the parsed record. Zero purchases stand against 64 sales totalling $98,923,553.67, with 55 sales in the last 90 days alone. One purchase transaction, at any size, would be the first entry in a column that has never had one in this record.
- 3. Any new 13D/G filing, from anyone. The 5% register holds two Baillie Gifford filings and nothing newer than August 8, 2025 — the later one at 9,628,910 shares (4.7%), below the 5% line. A fresh row, a return above 5%, or a first 13D would restart a register that has been silent for over a year.
- 4. The October 22 results, read against the Q3 13Fs that follow. The narrative case rests on the guided 788 million users and 305 million Premium subscribers. Delivery or a miss will not appear in filings immediately — it will appear in whether the Q3 registers broaden beyond seven holders and two dominant stakes.
- 5. The next short-interest settlements after a 26.11% drop. The borrow stood at 4,522,956 shares on September 15, down 46.2% from the December 2024 peak of 8,407,662 and 28.2% since June 30, at 2.20% of the share count with days-to-cover of 3.22. Whether it rebuilds toward the June level or keeps unwinding is the fastest-updating series in this audit: FINRA publishes biweekly.
Until one of those prints, the record describes a stock held by seven of our 83 tracked superinvestors — 1,865,791 shares, 62.8% with one holder, the cohort cut 27.76% in a quarter when the full market's reported shares rose 1.46% — whose only 5% reporter trimmed below the 5% line and went silent a year ago, whose insiders sold $98,923,553.67 in the parsed record without a single purchase, and whose borrow, at 4,522,956 shares, fell 33.0% in a year to 2.20% of the share count.
Related reading: Twenty of 83: The Superinvestors Cut Disney Shares 20.0% While the Full Market Added 16.2%. — Filing Tape #27; Nine of 83: One Holder Is 72.4% of the Superinvestors' Alibaba Stake. Its Insiders Bought $25,691,200 in 90 Days. — Filing Tape #26; Zero of 83: The Superinvestors Aren't in IREN — Filing Tape #1. Spotify's own page: Spotify Technology S.A. (SPOT) on GetCoattail.
Methodology and data notes
- Superinvestor lens: 83 managers collected directly from SEC EDGAR Form 13F (managers_13f collection), positions as of June 30, 2026; Spotify identified by CUSIP L8681T102 (a foreign CUSIP — Spotify is Luxembourg-domiciled). Seven distinct managers hold a long position totalling 1,865,791 shares; all seven reported rows are long (no put or call rows). Direction counts across the seven long holders: 1 new, 1 increased, 3 decreased, 2 unchanged. The largest holder's share of the cohort is 1,171,427 / 1,865,791 = 62.8%; the top three holders total 95.4%. Quarter-to-quarter cohort totals (2,582,718 shares at March 31; 1,865,791 shares at June 30; change −27.76% = (1,865,791 / 2,582,718) − 1) are from the site pipeline's holdings files on the same CUSIP basis in both quarters (8 filing rows at March 31; 7 at June 30 — the first-quarter rows include two filings under Tiger Global's filer number, so row counts are filing rows, not manager counts), and the pipeline's second-quarter total matches the EDGAR collection's long total exactly (difference of 0 shares and $0), so no collection difference needs reporting for this name. Cantillon's first-quarter base (439,353 shares) is that manager's row in the same pipeline first-quarter file; its −95.4% change is the EDGAR collection's reported figure and the two agree. Spotify reports as a foreign private issuer; its insiders nonetheless appear in the Form 4 record below, and we report that record as parsed.
- Full-market lens: SEC Form 13F Data Sets full-market aggregation. The primary table is the full13f collection's by-ticker file (holders = distinct filers reporting the CUSIP; 1,238 of the 1,243 reported long positions), and its figures match the backfill fixtures' by-CUSIP row for L8681T102 exactly on holders, shares, reported value, prior holders and prior reported value; the fixtures' by-ticker file carries no Spotify row at all — a ticker-mapping gap for this foreign CUSIP that we flag rather than fill. Reported-value caution: the aggregate value ($64,236,877,376 over 134,497,655 shares) implies ≈$477.61 per share against a June 30, 2026 close of $459.13 in our price file, a gap of 4.0%. The aggregate sums the VALUE of every information-table row — including put and call option rows — while the share count covers long common-stock rows only, so we headline filer and share counts and label dollar values "reported."
- Insider lens: full-parse Form 4 aggregation (agg_by_ticker), record as of October 2, 2026 (49 filings). Sale and purchase counts are transaction-code counts (S and P) in non-derivative rows; grants and exercises are not counted as purchases, and one filing can contain many transaction rows. Purchase transactions total zero across the parsed record (0 shares, $0.00, zero buyers, zero recorded as officer purchases). Sale transactions total 64 across the record (199,575.27 shares, $98,923,553.67, six sellers), 61 of them recorded as officer sales; share counts are reported with the decimals the aggregation carries. In the 90 days through October 2, 2026: no purchases; 55 sale transactions, 77,261.26 shares, $39,213,355.58, three sellers, all 55 recorded as officer sales. Scope: the aggregation's full-record totals and its one-year totals (window October 3, 2025 – October 2, 2026) are identical, so the parse holds no Spotify filings before October 3, 2025; every "record" claim in this audit is bounded by that coverage. The site's insider aggregate (compiled as of October 10, 2026, 90-day window) records zero purchases and three sellers — agreeing with the full parse on both — but counts 33 sale transactions totalling $26,631,852.27, which does not match the full-parse 90-day figures (55 transactions, $39,213,355.58). We headline the full-parse figures and report the difference as observed; we do not reconcile it here.
- 13D/G lens: full-parse SC 13D/G aggregation and parsed filings (2 filings matching CUSIP L8681T102 and issuer CIK 1639920, one reporting name in aggregate), filings through August 8, 2025. Baillie Gifford & Co's amendment row (10,838,982 shares at 5.3% as of March 31, 2025, filed April 30, 2025) and its later row (9,628,910 shares at 4.7% as of June 30, 2025, filed August 8, 2025; change −11.2% = (9,628,910 / 10,838,982) − 1) are reported as separate rows, as filed; they are not summed, because the aggregation's totalSharesReported field (20,467,892 shares) adds the same holder's two different dates and would double-count a single position. No reason for the decrease is asserted — the filings themselves are the record.
- Congress lens: Senate PTR archive and House PTR archive as maintained on this site, combined record as of October 3, 2026 — no purchase transactions and one sale transaction, no most-recent purchase date and no party information. The House aggregate (as of October 3, 2026) carries the same record in full; the Senate aggregate (as of October 1, 2026) carries no Spotify record, and we report that absence rather than omitting the chamber. The combined aggregate's member-count field reads 0 alongside the one recorded sale; we report the transaction counts as recorded and flag the field rather than adjusting either figure. Congressional disclosures report value ranges, so where this lens has data it records direction and counts only.
- Short interest lens: FINRA Equity Short Interest files (biweekly settlement dates), collected directly from FINRA's public distribution; the Spotify series covers 137 settlements from January 15, 2021 to September 15, 2026. The maximum of the full collected series is 8,407,662 shares on December 13, 2024 — which also falls inside the chart window — so the latest reading of 4,522,956 shares on September 15, 2026 sits 46.2% below the peak ((4,522,956 / 8,407,662) − 1) and 33.0% below the September 15, 2025 reading of 6,755,592; the change from the prior settlement (6,121,444 shares on August 31, 2026) is −26.11%, and the change from the June 30, 2026 settlement (6,297,025 shares) is −28.2%. The latest row's prior-settlement field (6,121,444) matches the prior settlement file's reported figure exactly. FINRA publishes each settlement about two weeks after the fact. The share-count ratio uses the fundamentals file's share count of 205,832,527 shares outstanding as of December 31, 2025.
- Fundamentals note: our fundamentals collection carries Spotify's fiscal-2025 revenue of €17,186,000,000, fiscal-2025 net income of €2,212,000,000 and fiscal-2025 assets of €15,015,000,000 (euro, IFRS basis; Spotify is a foreign private issuer). The market value of about $100.47 billion uses that file's October 6, 2026 price ($488.13) and reported share count; our daily-close file records $484.82 for the same date, and we keep the two files' figures separate rather than blending them.
- Prices: our own daily-close file for Spotify through October 6, 2026 ($484.82 close, −16.5% year to date on that file; 252-session closing high $692.04 on October 13, 2025; 252-session closing low $412.75 on February 5, 2026; closes of $484.91 at March 31, 2026 and $459.13 at June 30, 2026, a second-quarter change of −5.3%; change from June 30 to October 6 of +5.6% ((484.82 / 459.13) − 1)). The drawdown from the 252-session closing high is −29.9% ((484.82 / 692.04) − 1), and the gain from the 252-session closing low is +17.5%.
- Market context sources: second-quarter 2026 results (revenue of €4.8 billion, up 14% year over year; Premium subscribers of 300 million, up 9% and one million above company guidance; monthly active users of 777 million, up 12% and one million below guidance; operating income of €655 million, up 61%; gross margin of 33.4%; earnings per share of $3.03 against a Zacks consensus figure of $3.27; third-quarter guidance of 788 million users, 305 million Premium subscribers and €670 million of operating income) — company announcement of August 4, 2026 and earnings coverage, checked October 10, 2026, summarised in our own words; analyst targets (MarketBeat consensus average near $590 to $594 in coverage dated October 2–8, 2026; Evercore ISI target raised from $650 to $700 on September 29, 2026; KeyBanc target trimmed from $680 to $660 on October 1, 2026; UBS target trimmed from $690 to $675 in coverage dated October 5, 2026; Piper Sandler coverage initiated at neutral with a $540 target on October 8, 2026) and a next earnings date of October 22, 2026 on Yahoo Finance's calendar — market coverage, checked October 10, 2026; an October 2, 2026 closing price of $472.89 in market reporting, matching our price file for the same date exactly; search-attention ranking (Spotify twentieth at 84 Reddit mentions in 24 hours on AltIndex's ranking as refreshed October 9, 2026, with the nineteen higher-ranked names all previously covered or skipped in this series, and Insider Monkey's 20-name Google search-volume list fully covered or skipped through its twentieth name) — AltIndex and Insider Monkey, checked October 10, 2026. Figures we could not confirm against two sources were left out.
- Spotify is in the GetCoattail stock-page universe: Spotify Technology S.A. (SPOT) stock page. Series data: spot_lens_data.csv · spot_short_interest_series.csv. Earlier audits: Walt Disney Co · Alibaba Group Holding · IREN.
This article describes public filings as of the dates stated. It is not investment advice and makes no recommendation. Filings lag reality: 13F positions are as of June 30, 2026, and later trading is not yet public.
Revision history
- v1.0 — October 10, 2026: first publication.