COVID-19 Stock Trading

In a positive announcement in the fight against COVID-19, on Monday, Pfizer announced a vaccine that is more than 90 percent effective. That day, Pfizer's stock rose about 10 percent. But a strange thing happened: Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer, sold $5.6 million of the company's stock. The stock sale was part of a 10b5-1 plan. A 10b5-1 plan allows company executives to prearrange stock sales with a broker to avoid the appearance of insider trading. In Bourla's case, the 10b5-1 plan was put in place on August 19. However, some have scrutinized Bourla's plan as on August 20th, the company had a press release announcing new Phase 1 testing date.