You can learn a lot by following the behavior of company insiders when it comes to how they handle positions in their own company. People may sell for many reasons (buying a house, paying for college, or getting ready for retirement). They generally only buy for one reason: to make more money.
The chief executive officer is often one of the largest and best-informed shareholders in any company. Let’s see whether NerdWallet Inc. (NASDAQ: NRDS) CEO Tim Chen has been increasing or decreasing his shares over the past year and whether he knows something we don’t.
What You Need to Know About NerdWallet
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NerdWallet is a consumer finance company that operates a digital platform that provides consumer-driven advice about personal finance by connecting individuals and small and mid-sized businesses (SMB) with financial product providers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. The company’s platform offers guidance to consumers through educational content, tools and calculators, and product marketplaces, as well as the NerdWallet app for various financial products, including credit cards, mortgages, insurance, SMB products, personal loans, banking, investing, and student loans.
NerdWallet was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco. Nearby Silicon Valley is the home to such tech giants as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), and Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META), as well as many startups and smaller companies.
Competitors of NerdWallet include Bankrate, Intuit Mint, LendingTree Inc. (NASDAQ: TREE), and SmartAsset.
Chen has been CEO since 2009 and is also a co-founder and the chair of the board of directors.
The company was on track to have over $600 million in revenue for 2023 and has a market capitalization of more than $1.2 billion. The stock was on a rollercoaster last year but ended more than 53% higher. The S&P 500 was up over 23% in that time. However, the stock is trading hands about 37% or so lower since its initial public offering in 2021.
How NerdWallet’s CEO Is Trading
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One year ago, Chen owned almost 31.9 million shares, worth almost $282.6 million. Today, he owns around 32.0 million shares, which is a stake of more than 40%. That increase in the total boosted the value of the stake by over 40% to nearly $396.6 million.
| Shares a Year Ago | Shares Today | % Change |
| 31,855,444 | 3,2002,852 | 0.46% |
CEO Tim Chen’s slowly growing stake suggests he is cautiously confident, even though the stock is trading below its IPO price and has a wide 52-week range of $6.38 to $21.74. Note that the share price has gained about 148% since its post-IPO low last October. Also note that the company’s fourth-quarter report is due out on February 14. Insiders are typically prohibited from buying or selling shares until after quarterly results are released. It may be interesting to see what Chen and other insiders do afterward.
Other internal shareholders to watch include NerdWallet Vice President Samuel Yount. He owns 2.4% of shares outstanding, worth about $27.9 million. Kevin Yuann is the chief business officer and owns 0.2% of shares outstanding, worth about $2.5 million, while Chief Product Officer John Caine owns less than 0.2% of shares outstanding, worth about $1.9 million. Note that Yuann sold shares earlier in the year. (These 19 executives pay themselves over $150 million a year.)
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