Pfizer CEO sold $5.6M in stock day of vaccine news

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla sold $5.6 million worth of his company’s stock Monday in a preplanned sale on the same day it released promising results from a COVID-19 vaccine trial.

The sale was part of a plan authorized by Bourla in August to sell the shares once they hit a predetermined price.

Pfizer’s shares hit $41.94 a piece Monday after the company announced its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90 percent effective at protecting people from the virus. 

Bourla sold 132,508 shares, which amounts to about $5.6 million. He still owns more than 80,000 shares of Pfizer.

It is standard for executives to sell their stock at predetermined prices to diversify their portfolios.

“The sale of these shares is part of Dr. Bourla’s personal financial planning and a pre-established (10b5-1) plan, which allows, under SEC rules, major shareholders and insiders of exchange-listed corporations to trade a predetermined number of shares at a predetermined time,” a Pfizer spokesperson said in a statement.