This congressman just filed $200K worth of stock trades

A disclosure dated October 11 reveals that Jonathan L. Jackson, the Representative for Illinois’s 1st congressional district, executed four stock trades on September 24 with a total value between $60,000 and $200,000.

The transactions stand out, not just for their size — Jackson reduced his stake in two companies while simultaneously going long on two stocks he hadn’t traded before, per the US Senator Stock Trading Radar by Finbold.

The four stocks traded by the representative are General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK), AES Corp (NYSE: AES), and Aramark (NYSE: ARMK). Each individual transaction is valued at between $15,001 and $50,000.

Committee assignments cast shadow over congressman’s stock trades

The trading of individual stocks has become a highly publicized and contentious issue. Access to non-public or even classified information provides U.S. politicians with an unfair edge — with critics of the current state of affairs proposing a total ban on such trades.

Although legislation like the STOCK Act has been put in place, and even wider-reaching measures are proposed in the ETHICS Act, at present, the numerous instances of sitting senators and congresspeople violating those regulations suggest that little progress has been made in curbing the issue.

Jonathan L. Jackson is a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, as well as the House Committee on Agriculture and the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development.

General Dynamics is one of the largest contractors for the U.S. military — Jackson being on the Committee on Foreign Affairs provides an edge. The congressman’s membership in the Committee on Agriculture is likewise an advantage for trading ARMK shares— as the business is in the food services sector. 

Jackson strikes big with AES stock sale

While the congressman’s purchases are interesting — Aramark posted mixed earnings in August, although revenues beat expectations, and GD is one of the most highly-rated defense stocks by analysts, his sale of AES is the most notable detail in the disclosure.

Jackson had bought between $15,001 and $50,000 in AES shares on July 9 — the trade was disclosed on August 12. He sold the stock on September 24.

AES is down 9.15% on the year-to-date (YTD) chart, and has been in the green for only a month and a half over that timeframe. The timing of Jackson’s trade is certainly precise — on the day of his acquisitions, AES was trading at $17.68 — on the day of his sale, the AES share price was $19.11.

While the 8% gain from this trade pales in comparison to some of his colleagues, it’s quite notable how the congressman managed to sell the shares at a rare peak — just five days later, a correction started, bringing AES stock price down to $17.57.

Depending on the exact size of the trade, at an 8% return, the congressman could be up anywhere between $1,200 and $4,000 on this single trade of one of the few utility stocks that is not performing well this year.