JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) chairman and CEO
Jamie Dimon personally spent
$26.6 million of his own money to buy his company's stock back in early February.
The executive acquired 500,000 shares of JPMorgan's stock when it was trading near its lows for the year. Today, the half a
million shares are valued at more than $43 million - giving him the title of one of the most savvy insiders to buy
their own company's stock in 2016.
According to a Bloomberg
report, a majority of insiders at S&P 500 index companies didn't purchase a single share of their company's stock in the
open market throughout 2016.
One possible reason to explain this trend stems from the fact that many CEOs receive the bulk of their salary in stock.
"If you work at a butcher and a significant benefit of the job is that you get to take home several steaks every week, why would
you want to buy more steak?" Ian Levin, a partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel who focuses on executive compensation, told
Bloomberg.
Nevertheless, there were several executives who bought their company's stock. Here is Bloomberg's list of the top S&P 500
companies where insiders (not necessarily its CEO) bought the most stock throughout 2016.
- 1. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA) -
$164 million. Top buyer was CEO Stefano Pessina.
- 2. Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ: FOXA)
- $163 million. Top buyer was an unnamed 10 percent shareholder.
- 3. Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN) - $50
million. Top buyer was CEO Steve Wynn.
- 4. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) - $48 million.
Top buyer was CEO Miles White.
- 5. JPMorgan - $28 million. Top buyer was CEO Jamie Dimon.
- 6. Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) - $21 million. Top
buyer was an unnamed 10 percent shareholder.
- 7. Kinder Morgan Inc (NYSE: KMI) - $18 million.
Top buyer was an unnamed director.
- 8. Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) -
$18 million. Top buyer was CEO Frank Leighton.
- 9. Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) - $10
million. Top buyer was CEO Stephen Luczo.
- 10. Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) - $9
million. Top buyer was an unnamed director.
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