Uber (UBER) Stock Rises As CEO Purchases Shares Worth $6.7M

As Uber Technologies’ (NYSE:UBER) co-founder Travis Kalanick continues with his sell-offs, its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is buying more shares.

According to a Nov 20, SEC filing, Khosrowshahi bought 250,000 Uber shares worth $6.7 million in his first open-market purchase of the company’s shares. He paid a price of $26.75 for each share. Following the news, shares of the company rose and closed yesterday’s trading session at $29.46, up 5.1%.

Khosrowshahi’s purchase marks the second insider purchase of company’s stock, the first being made by Chairman Ron Sugar on Nov 8. Khosrowshahi now possesses 1.53 million Uber shares.

As far as Kalanick’s selling spree is concerned, a Nov 21 SEC filing shows a fourth round of sell-off, following which his sale totals approximately $1.5 billion.

Price Performance

The Uber stock made its trading debut on May 10, 2019, at a price of $45. Ever since going public, the company has been grappling with significant cost pressure, resultingin huge losses in each of the three quarters of 2019. Significant sales and marketing expenses are weighing on its bottom line. Evidently, shares of the company plunged more than 29% since May 10.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Uber carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHX) , Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) and HealthStream, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSTM) . While Marchex sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Akamai Technologies and HealthStream carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Marchex, Akamai Technologies and HealthStream have rallied more than 49%, 43% and 14%, respectively, so far this year.

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