Nvidia stock has rocketed 156% so far in 2024, and founder, President, and CEO Jensen Huang has been selling stock through a trading plan. He’s the top seller among chip CEOs who have seen shares soar past the S&P 500. Micron Technology, Qualcomm, and Coherent have also seen their top executives selling shares into strength.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s net worth has soared along with the share price of his company.
In the past week, Nvidia became the world’s most valuable public company, and Huang disclosed that he sold 720,000 Nvidia shares from June 13 through 21 for a total of $94.6 million, an average price of $131.44 each. He sold the shares through a so-called rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted on March 14, and now owns 80.7 million Nvidia shares in a personal account, according to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Huang owns another 605 million Nvidia shares through a trust, 49 million shares through a partnership, and 132 million shares through trusts.
Huang had contemplated selling up to 600,000 Nvidia shares when he filed his plan, but that was before the company’s 10-for-one stock split that was effective after the market closed June 7. On a post-split basis, the selling plan covers six million shares, so Huang has another 5,280,000 shares to go, and his plan runs through March 2025. Executives such as Huang use planned transactions to remove the appearance of bias from knowledge of nonpublic information. The plans automatically execute transactions when preset conditions are met, such as price and volume.
Huang’s stock sales last year, all in the month of September, totaled 237,500 Nvidia presplit shares for $110 million, an average price of $463.95 each. Those were also planned transactions, ones that involved acquiring stock through the use of options.
Nvidia didn’t make Huang available for comment on his stock sales, and the company also declined to comment.
Micron Technology President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra has sold 457,280 shares for $52 million, an average price of $113.65 each. The planned sales spanned from January through June, and involved acquiring stock through options. Micron stock has surged 64% year to date, and the average selling price of Mehrotra’s stock has risen with the share price from about $82 in early January to about $152 in mid-June.
He’s already sold more stock than last year. In 2023, Mehrotra sold 342,000 Micron shares for $25.5 million, an average price of $74.57 each. Those planned sales also included acquiring stock through options.
Micron didn’t make Mehrotra available for comment on his stock sales, saying in an email, “We are currently in a quiet period.”
Qualcomm stock has gained 47% so far in 2024, and President and CEO Cristiano Amon has sold 40,500 shares for $6.9 million in planned transactions from January through May, an average price of $169.92 each. The average price sold surged to $190 in mid-May from about $150 in January.
Amon, who has been CEO since June 2021, hadn’t sold stock for years until 2024. Previous to this year, his most recent stock sale was in December 2021 when he sold 5,400 shares through a planned transaction for $1.02 million, an average price of $189.50 each.
Qualcomm didn’t respond to a request to make Amon available for comment.
Vincent “Chuck” D. Mattera Jr. told Coherent’s board in February that after 20 years with the company, with the last eight as CEO, he intended to retire when a successor was found.
But giving notice didn’t stop Mattera, who had also been chair since 2021, from selling stock. From March through May he sold 15,000 Coherent shares in planned transactions for $846,700, an average price of $56.45 each. Through his trading plan, adopted Dec. 7, Mattera expects to sell up to 65,000 Coherent shares, and use stock options to acquire and sell up to another 128,620 shares through the end of 2024.
Last year, Mattera sold 61,000 shares, all through planned transactions in June, for $3.3 million, or $54 each.
Coherent didn’t respond to a request to make Mattera available for comment on his stock sales.
Coherent stock has soared 65% so far in 2024. Effective June 3, the company named a new CEO: Jim Anderson, Lattice Semiconductors’ president and CEO. Mattera retired and left Coherent’s board. Since he is no longer a company insider, Mattera isn’t required to disclose trades in Coherent stock.
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