The timing of Jeff Williams' Rule 10b5-1 trading plan was uncanny.
From Ed LIn's "Apple Executives Sold Stock in 2022, but Tim Cook Held Off" ($) posted Monday by Barron's:
Tim Cook’s most recent sale of Apple stock was Aug. 25, 2021, when he sold 2.4 million shares for $355 million, an average price of $148.58 each, according to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The sale was made through Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, which automatically executes trades when parameters set by an insider are met. The plans are intended to remove the potential for insiders to benefit from the knowledge of nonpublic corporate news. All of Apple’s top executives sell stock through such plans...
Other Apple executives, including Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri, general counsel Kate Adams, and senior VP for retail and people Deidre O’Brien sold more stock by dollar value in 2022 than the previous year. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams sold less stock in 2022 than in 2021. They gleaned higher average selling prices per share in 2022 because at times—early that year, and also in the summer—Apple stock was about flat from the end of 2021.
Maestri in 2022 sold 273,034 Apple shares for $44.4 million, an average price of $162.68 each, according to regulatory records. That compares with 2021, when he sold 286,901 shares for $40.7 million, an average price of $141.95 each.
Adams sold 256,139 Apple shares in 2022 for $38.1 million, an average price of $148.93 each, compared with 2021 sales of 76,000 shares for $10.7 million, an average price of $141.16 each.
In 2022, O’Brien sold 236,916 Apple shares for $35.3 million, an average price of $148.80 each, compared with 2021 sales of 140,777 shares for $19.7 million, an average price of $139.94 each.
Williams sold 105,901 Apple shares in 2022 for $18.8 million, an average price of $177.75 each, compared with sales of 299,696 shares in 2021 for $39.9 million, an average price of $132.98 each.
My take: The timing of Jeff Williams' Rule 10b5-1 trading plan was uncanny. There were only six days last year when it could have fetched that price for his shares, starting Tuesday March 29 (closing price: $178.15) and ending Monday April 4 ($177.64).
A big thanks to all those Apple execs, who increased my net worth by making great strides during Covid, and for avoiding the mistakes we’re hearing from nearly other big name. You deserve your gains.
One more: A lot of their gain goes to taxes and non-profits.
“Long time Apple investors know this slingshot pattern…”
Upvoted. And for those of us on fixed income, Apple knows this. If you average out the price Apple has paid for its buybacks, It’s about a third of the present (low) price. That’s down to AAPL being under-appreciated and therefore undervalued.
It’s also important to some of us to know when to sell a little AAPL to pay our bills, so it’s vital to time sales as well. That’s tricky, but knowing that AAPL is in fact played can help avoid selling when the slingshot is being primed.