"Pfizer's CEO sold $5.6 million in stock the day he announced promising vaccine news"

[orleans]

"Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla filed to sell millions of dollars of his company's stock Monday -- the day the pharmaceutical giant announced positive data about its coronavirus vaccine.

"The company's shares soared after Pfizer and European drug company BioNTech said early data suggests the vaccine could be more than 90% effective.
The transaction was part of a regularly scheduled plan set up by Bourla to periodically sell some of his Pfizer shares.

"Bourla sold 132,508 Pfizer (PFE) shares at a price of $41.94, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That works out to proceeds of nearly $5.6 million."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/11/investing/pfizer-ceo-albert-bourla-stock-sale-vaccine/index.html

so... what the hell is this about?

[Roland99]

1. Didn't they make the announcement at like 6am or so? Well before markets would have opened (9:30am)

[orleans]

2. i don't know n/t

[Roland99]

4. Press Release - 6:45am

https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against

So doubtful this is anything nefarious (unlike Loeffler and Perdue!)

[OnDoutside]

8. The price was $36.40 at 4pm on Friday. It was $41.92 at 9.30am on Monday. I think he might be in

a little spot of trouble, while he didn't announce and then sell, he did tell his brokers on Aug 19 to only sell above a certain price. The reality is that the 90% success was only based on 7 days of data, a little premature.

[Roland99]

10. Hopefully one thing a Biden admin does is add teeth back to the SEC

[OnDoutside]

11. I think Elizabeth Warren will ensure that !

[brush]

12. Doesn't that mean he sold before the big run up in price?

[OnDoutside]

18. The press release was at 6.45am before the Stock Market opened, and he had agreed the stock would

be sold once the share price hit a certain price, not a certain date,

A Pfizer spokeswoman said in an email to CNN Business that the sale took place because Pfizer shares hit a predetermined price as part of a plan authorized by Bourla on August 19.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/11/investing/pfizer-ceo-albert-bourla-stock-sale-vaccine/index.html

He sold at $41.94 on Monday, when the price on Friday was $36.40. It broke $39 once in 6 months, they were underperforming.

The difference between 36.40 and 41.94 is 5.54 and he sold 132,508 shares, so the differential profit is $734,094.32

[brush]

19. OK. But his sale authorization was months ago and he left...

quite a bit on the table as the price at the end of day of the announcement was much higher.

Am I wrong to think the sale isn't so troubling since he put in the sale order in August?

[OnDoutside]

21. He knew they had a drug in the pipeline, and Pfizer hadn't been above $40 since Jan 15th. The

question is, what was the trigger price ? If say it was $41 then that's the price it would have been sold at, so the rest of the day didn't matter. At the very least it suspicious, for what really was only 7 days of data, and when further questions emerged, the share price pushed back.

[cbdo2007]

20. Many people who buy/sell stocks have automatic buy/sell prices.

It is very common, and even people at his level have this type of system in place to preserve certain wins.

So if I buy a stock for $10 per share and think it could get up to $12 per share, I'll put my sell price in at $12 per share to save my profits. On the other side, I would also put a sell order in at $9 so if it takes an unexpected fall, I can preserve some of my initial in case it goes down farther.

[2naSalit]

3. Imagine that. ...nt

[OnDoutside]

5. I suggested as much yesterday

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=14518276

It's more like a stock price boost to me.. December is profit taking time.

[exboyfil]

6. In our company we have windows immediately after the quarterly shareholder meetings

and public financial release. These restrictions apply all the way down to individual contributing engineers and other professionals. That is the way a well run company should do it.

[Yonnie3]

7. When I held stock in a small company where I was employed

I was not allowed to issue sell orders within so many weeks of a financial filing, significant news, etc.

There were only about six weeks in the year where I could freely sell the stock.

There was a work around that allowed me to schedule sales well in advance and I had to stick to that schedule. This appears to be what happened with Bouria.

It was around 20 years ago and I've forgotten the specifics.

[OnDoutside]

9. Yes, at the very least one needs to avoid the semblance of a conflict of interest,

[ProfessorGAC]

15. A Bit Less Restrictive

I sold off my stock quarterly, the last year before retirement.
20, 20, 20& 40%. (A total of a pinch over 2,1000 shares)
I had 5 business days at the start of each quarter.
There were no restrictions on how much I sold, or the proximity to financial statement filing.
Couldn't do it before though.
That would allow dumping ahead of bad financial results, which would clearly be inside information.

[bdamomma]

13. I wonder how

many repigs bought into it??

[Jersey Devil]

14. What's the problem if he made the announcement before making the trade?

If the vaccine was public knowledge he had the same right to try to make a profit as any other shareholder.

[flamingdem]

16. He's the last person to attack if he's responsible for the vaccine that can save our

collective asses. Look to the repuke senators in Georgia for their inside trading instead.

[Paladin]

17. I don't care. Their vaccine announcement timing screwed trump out of any credit. (nt)