CEO Salvatore Palella Is Buying Helbiz (HLBZ) Stock. Here’s Why.

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Helbiz (NASDAQ:HLBZ) is in the spotlight after its CEO reported purchasing 1.6 million shares of his own company. As a refresher, Helbiz merged with Greenvision, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), to list on the Nasdaq exchange last year. Helbiz operates as a transportation platform that provides its customers with micro-mobility solutions, such as electric scooters and bikes. Helbiz also owns Helbiz Kitchen, which operates as the “largest international ghost kitchen dedicated to food delivery.”

A row of Helbiz (HLBZ) bikes.
Source: MarbellaStudio / Shutterstock.com

However, 2022 has been anything but pleasant for Helbiz, as shares of HLBZ stock are down more than 70% year-to-date (YTD).

CEO Salvatore Palella is clearly unfazed by the price decline as he reported purchasing 1.6 million shares on April 29. Let’s get into the details.

CEO Salvatore Palella Just Bought Shares of HLBZ Stock

On April 29, Palella purchased 1.6 million shares of Helbiz at an average price of $1.5o per share. Of the 1.6 million shares, 200,000 shares included warrants with an exercise price of $11.50. The exercise price implies a 600% upside from current prices. Furthermore, the expiration date for the warrants occurs on Aug. 12, 2026. After the purchase, the CEO directly owns 2.5 million shares and 1.o5 million warrants of his own company.

However, this wasn’t the only time that Palella had recently purchased shares of HLBZ. On March 8, he purchased 50,000 shares of Helbiz at an average price of $3.05 per share. The transaction amounted to about $150,000. Then, on March 29, Palella purchased an additional 350,000 shares at an average price of $2.86 per share. In total, the transaction amounted to just over $1 million.

Besides Palella, no insiders have made any transactions since the company became a publicly traded entity last year. Palella has purchased HLBZ stock five times since last August. On Aug. 9, he reported purchasing 200,000 shares at an average price of $8.20. That tranche of shares is currently sitting on a massive loss.

Who Else Is Betting Big on Helbiz?

Tracking institutional ownership is important, as these large funds provide liquidity and price support for stocks. Since Helbiz is a relatively newly listed company, it currently does not have much institutional support. During Q4, 13 funds reported owning Helbiz, an increase of five funds from the prior quarter. In addition, 13F filers reported owning a total of 1.11 million shares. With that in mind, let’s go over the top five shareholders.

  1. Salvatore Palella, CEO: 2.5 million shares.
  2. Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS): 940,000 shares.
  3. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors: 46,300 shares.
  4. Two Sigma Investments: 39,720 shares.
  5. Geode Capital Management: 35,463 shares.

It should be noted that Omni Partners owns 366,445 shares. However, the firm’s position is only accurate as of Q2 of 2021.

On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2022/05/ceo-salvatore-palella-is-buying-helbiz-hlbz-stock-heres-why/.

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