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Jamie Dimon's $26.6 million JPMorgan buy

In February 2016, with bank stocks in a slump, JPMorgan's chief executive bought about a year's pay worth of his own company's shares.

Insider
Jamie Dimon
Role
Chairman & CEO
Bought
Feb 11, 2016
Shares
500,000
Avg. price
$53.18
Total
$26.6M

The setup

In early 2016 bank stocks were caught in a global sell-off. JPMorgan Chase was down nearly 20% for the year and about 25% below its July 2015 high, while Citigroup and Bank of America were each down more than 30%. The bank had just reported record 2015 profit of $24.4 billion.

On February 11, Dimon bought 500,000 shares at an average of $53.18, about $26.6 million and roughly the size of his $27 million pay for 2015. The purchase lifted the holdings of Dimon and his family trusts to about 6.7 million shares.

What happened next

  1. Dimon buys 500,000 shares at an average of $53.18.
  2. Shares have rallied nearly 55% from his purchase, and Dimon is ahead by more than $15 million.about +55%

What InsiderBeacon would have flagged

CEO$26.6M of his own moneyAbout a year's payStake up about 8%Filed on time

A chief executive, a large trade relative to his pay, and a quick filing. The app would have ranked it high in the feed and sent an alert to anyone following Dimon or JPM. See how the score works.

The takeaway

This is the textbook signal: the person running the company puts about a year's pay into its stock after a sharp drop, and reports it right away. Size compared with an insider's pay or existing stake often tells you more than the dollar figure alone.

Sources

  1. Jamie Dimon buys $26.6 million in JPMorgan Chase stock, CNN Money, February 12, 2016
  2. Trade of the year: Jamie Dimon loaded up on JPM at the perfect time, Business Insider via Yahoo Finance, December 16, 2016

This case study is for education, not investment advice. Past insider purchases don't predict future returns. We chose these cases because their filings and outcomes are well documented, and we include losses on purpose.

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