GameStop Stock Saw Two Big Insider Purchases

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GameStop

stock had two material insider purchases last week.

The larger one was by GameStop (ticker: GME) Chairman Ryan Cohen, who paid $10.2 million for 100,000 shares on March 22. The other was by director Larry Cheng.

Cheng paid $383,355 on March 21 for 4,000 GameStop shares, an average price of $95.84 each, according to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cheng, who joined GameStop’s board last year, now owns 8,022 GameStop shares.

Cheng, a managing partner of investment firm Volition Capital, didn’t respond to a request for comment, but he did tweet on March 23, “I am pleased to have increased my position in GameStop.”

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Insiders typically have two business days to disclose open-market transactions. Cohen’s latest stock purchase was the day after Cheng’s, but Cohen disclosed his buy the same day, while Cheng reported his purchase a day after Cohen’s regulatory filing.

Cohen’s and Cheng’s stock purchases are the first GameStop insider stock buys since December 2020, when Cohen paid $19 million for 1.2 million shares, an average price of $15.51 each.

GameStop stock has surged since Cohen’s 2020 buy, but it has been a bit lackluster as of late. So far in 2022, shares are up 1.7%, compared with a 5% slip in the

S&P 500 index.
In the latest 12 months, GameStop stock has dropped 17% while the index has gained 14%.

We noted that if Cohen continues to buy stock, it could bolster shares, and he hasn’t been the lone buyer.

Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.

Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.