Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) stock is in the spotlight following a $452,764 insider sale from Chief Accounting Officer (CAO) Jeff Baker. On June 1, Baker sold off 30,798 shares at an average price of $14.70 per share on the open market. Baker had directly owned 137,002 shares of RIVN stock before the sale, which means that the sale consisted of about 22.5% of his prior stake. Following the sale, Baker still owns 106,204 shares.
As the Peter Lynch saying goes, insiders may sell their shares for a variety of reasons, but they only buy for one: they believe the price will go up. Still, since Baker’s sale accounted for over 20% of his prior stake, this sale may be worth keeping an eye on.
CAO Jeff Baker Sells $450,000 Worth of RIVN Stock
The last RIVN insider open market transaction is also attributable to Baker. On Feb. 15, he reported selling 2,331 shares worth $44,254 at an average price of $18.98 per share. However, this sale was enacted in order to cover tax withholding obligations in connection with the vesting of restricted stock units (RSUs), which is a common practice among executives of publicly traded companies. CFO Claire McDonough reported selling 2,090 shares on the same day for the same reason, as well as selling 2,902 shares as part of a prearranged 10b5-1 plan the following day.
Meanwhile, the last insider open market purchase of RIVN was made on May 26, 2022. On that day, Director Jay Flatley disclosed purchasing 40,000 shares at an average price of $29.31 per share. In total, the transaction was valued at $1.17 million. Today, RIVN trades in the low-$14 range.
Is RIVN at Risk of Being Removed From the Nasdaq 100?
Last week, a JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) report warned that RIVN could be removed from the Nasdaq 100 as soon as this month. Analyst Min Moon explained that the index usually removes its smallest constituents if they carry weights of less than 0.1% for two consecutive months. Rivian had a weight of less than 0.1% as of April 28 and May 31.
This has led Moon to predict that RIVN will be removed from the index on the third Friday of June, June 16. Rivian has not yet commented on the situation.
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.
