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Almost a dozen executives and directors at the firms recently boosted their share sales, earning more than $160 million since late 2023 after not cutting their stakes in as long as nine years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Take Alphabet Inc chief executive officer Sundar Pichai. He's already sold more stock in Google's parent this year than in all of 2023, pocketing $30 million overall from almost two dozen sales filed as recently as this month. Alphabet's shares have risen over 90% since the start of 2023.
Nvidia Inc director Mark Perry has sold more stock so far this year than in the previous two years. And Apple Inc chairman Arthur Levinson filed in February to offload his biggest chunk of the iPhone-maker's stock in over two decades.
A representative for Alphabet said Pichai's sales were done through a trading plan. Nvidia declined to comment, while Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.
Monetising holdings
These decisions underscore how Silicon Valley insiders are monetising their holdings after tech stocks rallied to fresh records, rebounding from a 2022 slump caused by accelerating inflation and interest-rate hikes. Nvidia is the best performer among the Magnificent Seven stocks - and third-best on the S&P 500 Index - this year with an 83% gain.
"They all understand that pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered," said Lloyd Greif, founder of Los Angeles-based investment bank Greif & Co. "No one can time the top of the stock market perfectly, and it certainly looks pretty frothy right now."
AI appeal
The cohort of seven tech companies that also includes Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc and Tesla Inc has risen almost 150% since the start of last year, partly because of investors' appetite for stocks of any company that offer exposure to artificial intelligence (AI).
Recent quarterly earnings showed the rally still has legs, with all except Meta gaining after their reports. Nvidia, scheduled to report later this month, is the only Magnificent Seven company that has yet to release results.
Even insiders in the companies that aren't doing well are selling. Unlike its Magnificent Seven peers, Tesla's share price has slumped this year but that has not stopped its chair Robyn Denholm filing this year to sell about $52 million of the electric-vehicle maker's stock after not touching her stake since 2022.
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