Airbnb (ABNB) Stock Drops as Director’s $115 Million Exit Raises Eyebrows

TLDR

Joseph Gebbia unloaded 58,000 Airbnb shares for $8.03 million on January 12 at $138.45 each
The director has dumped 936,000 shares since October totaling over $115 million in sales
Stock closed at $132.79 with analysts maintaining “Hold” rating and $147.84 average target
RBC Capital keeps Outperform rating at $170, betting on hotel expansion growth
Institutional ownership stands at 80.76% with Vanguard holding largest position

Joseph Gebbia just cashed out another chunk of his Airbnb stake. The company director sold 58,000 shares on January 12 for $8.03 million.

Airbnb, Inc., ABNB

The shares went for an average price of $138.45 each. After the sale, Gebbia holds 518,015 shares worth $71.7 million.

This latest transaction cut his position by 10.07%. But it’s hardly the first time he’s hit the sell button lately.

Gebbia has been systematically reducing his stake since October. The numbers tell the story.

He sold 236,000 shares on October 27 for $30.3 million. Another 236,000 went on November 10 for $28.5 million.

The selling continued with 232,000 shares on November 24 bringing in $26.5 million. Then came three consecutive monthly sales of 58,000 shares each.

December 1 netted $6.9 million. December 15 brought $7.6 million. December 29 added $7.9 million to the total.

All told, Gebbia has dumped nearly 936,000 shares. Total proceeds top $115 million across these transactions.

Airbnb shares dropped Wednesday. The stock fell $7.28 to close at $132.79.

Volume spiked to 7.68 million shares. That’s well above the average 4.23 million daily trades.

The company’s market cap sits at $81.74 billion. Its P/E ratio is 31.54 with a beta of 1.09.

Shares trade between a 52-week range of $99.88 and $163.93. The 50-day moving average is $127.16.

RBC Capital doubled down on its bullish call January 14. The firm kept its Outperform rating with a $170 price target.

The bank sees hotels as a game changer. RBC’s analysis of Madrid suggests each 10% market penetration adds 40-80 basis points to room night growth.

The firm thinks the stock will move before financials show full impact. They’re betting the market will price in success early.

Multiple analysts have upgraded recently. B.Riley jumped from Neutral to Buy at $170.

Barclays moved from Underweight to Equalweight at $120. Cantor Fitzgerald went from Underweight to Neutral at $141.

The consensus rating stays at “Hold” though. Average price target across all analysts is $147.84.

Airbnb missed earnings expectations in Q3. The company posted $2.21 per share versus $2.31 estimates.

Revenue came in at $4.10 billion. That beat the $4.08 billion consensus and grew 9.9% year-over-year.

Net margin stands at 22.03%. Return on equity hit 32.14%.

Analysts project $4.31 earnings per share for the full year. Institutional investors control 80.76% of outstanding shares.

Vanguard Group leads institutional holders. The fund increased its stake by 1.7% to 38.3 million shares worth $4.65 billion.

Harris Associates holds 14.2 million shares. Geode Capital owns 9.9 million shares.

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