Lilly Endowment Has Sold $111.8 Billion in LLY Stock

Lilly Endowment Inc. has filed 10,747 Form 4 transactions with the SEC. Every single one is a sale. The cumulative total: $111.8 billion in Eli Lilly (LLY) stock sold.

And after all of that selling, the endowment still holds 92.2 million shares — worth roughly $100 billion at current prices. The position has grown faster than the foundation can legally sell it.

The Numbers Behind the Selling

Lilly Endowment's Form 4 history on 13F Insight reads like a mechanical selling program because that's exactly what it is. On November 25, 2025 alone, the endowment filed 21 separate sale transactions totaling over 115,000 shares at prices between $1,088 and $1,111 per share — roughly $127 million in a single day.

But this isn't one massive liquidation. It's algorithmic, broker-mediated selling: small lots of 200 to 30,000 shares at slightly different prices, executed throughout the trading day to minimize market impact. The pattern has repeated for over two decades.

Period	Approx. Shares Held	Approx. LLY Price	Position Value
2006	143 million	$55	~$7.9 billion
2020	~107 million	$170	~$18.2 billion
2024 (mid)	~97 million	$940	~$91 billion
2025 (Dec)	92.2 million	$1,085	~$100 billion

The math is remarkable: the endowment has sold roughly 51 million shares over two decades, yet its remaining position is worth more than twelve times what the entire holding was worth in 2006. LLY stock has appreciated faster than the endowment can — or is required to — sell it.

Why They Have to Sell

This isn't discretionary selling. Two federal tax rules compel Lilly Endowment to liquidate shares every year:

The 5% Payout Rule (IRC §4942): Under the Tax Reform Act of 1969, every private foundation in the United States must distribute at least 5% of its average net investment assets annually for charitable purposes. Failure triggers a 30% excise tax on the shortfall — and 100% if uncorrected. With $80 billion in assets at year-end 2024, Lilly Endowment must distribute approximately $3.6 billion in 2025 alone. Since LLY dividends don't come close to covering that, the endowment must sell stock to fund its grants.

The 20% Holdings Cap (IRC §4943): A private foundation cannot hold more than 20% of the voting stock of any single company (combined with “disqualified persons” like the founding family). Exceeding the limit triggers a 10% annual excise tax, escalating to 200% if not corrected. With the Lilly family holding additional shares, the endowment must keep its ownership below the threshold.

The irony is structural: the better LLY stock performs, the more the endowment must sell. A $80 billion asset base means $4 billion in mandatory charitable spending. Next year, if LLY keeps rising, that number goes higher.

What Made the Stock Unstoppable

Eli Lilly has been one of the best-performing large-cap stocks of the past five years, driven almost entirely by GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs — the weight-loss and diabetes treatments that have reshaped the pharmaceutical industry.

Mounjaro (tirzepatide, for diabetes): $7.4 billion revenue in Q4 2025 alone, up 110% year-over-year
Zepbound (tirzepatide, for obesity): $4.3 billion in Q4 2025, up 124% year-over-year
Q4 2025 total revenue: $19.3 billion (+43% year-over-year)
November 2025: LLY briefly crossed $1 trillion in market capitalization — the first healthcare company in history to do so

The five-year return on LLY stock is approximately 600%. Every share the endowment sold at $55 in 2006 is now worth $1,085. Every share it sells today at $1,085 was originally gifted at a cost basis of near zero.

From $262,500 to $80 Billion

Lilly Endowment was founded in 1937 by three members of the Lilly pharmaceutical dynasty: J.K. Lilly Sr. (son of the company's 1876 founder), Eli Lilly (the grandson), and J.K. Lilly Jr. The initial gift was 17,500 shares of Eli Lilly & Company stock valued at $262,500.

That $262,500 has become, 87 years later, the largest private foundation in the United States. In May 2025, Bloomberg reported that Lilly Endowment's $79.9 billion in assets had surpassed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ($77.2 billion), reclaiming a top ranking it had briefly held in the late 1990s before the Gates Foundation overtook it.

Cumulative grants since 1937: $17.5 billion to more than 11,353 organizations. In 2024 alone, the endowment approved $2.24 billion in grants across three focus areas:

Community development — $762 million (concentrated in Indiana)
Religion — $751 million (clergy renewal, theological education)
Education — $731 million (full-tuition scholarships for Indiana students, teacher training)

In December 2025, the endowment approved $460 million for K-12 schools in Marion County (Indianapolis) and $77 million for youth camps across Indiana.

What This Means for LLY Investors

For retail investors watching the Lilly Endowment's Form 4 filings, the constant selling can look alarming. But this is categorically different from an executive dumping stock ahead of bad news:

The selling is legally mandated — the endowment has no choice under IRS rules
The pace is predictable — driven by the 5% payout requirement and $3.6B+ annual grant obligations
The market impact is managed — sales are broken into hundreds of small lots to minimize price disruption
The position is still enormous — 92.2 million shares represents roughly 9.6% of LLY's outstanding stock

The endowment's selling tells you nothing about Eli Lilly's business prospects. It tells you everything about the scale of American pharmaceutical philanthropy — and the paradox of a foundation whose asset base grows faster than the law can force it to give the money away.

The Full Transaction Record

You can view all 10,747 transactions on the Lilly Endowment insider profile page. The earliest transactions in 13F Insight's database date to 2003, when LLY traded around $60 per share and the endowment held over 143 million shares. The most recent sales, in December 2025, were executed at prices above $1,085 per share.

In between lies the paper trail of one of the most consequential — and least understood — selling programs in American corporate history.