Corporate compensation experts say these kinds of sales are the natural consequence of a long-term shift to using stock for a greater share of executive pay, with the goal being to tie pay to performance—in this case the development of lifesaving vaccines. Top company officials, like other investors, may be disinclined to leave profits on the table, as long as they adhere to insider-trading rules, some consultants say.
“This is behavior that I would expect to see in most of these companies,” said Ben Silverman, director of research at InsiderScore, which analyzes transactions by corporate insiders. While Mr. Silverman described some of the selling as aggressive, he said it isn’t unusual, particularly for young companies like Moderna whose executives have seen the value of their holdings jump dramatically.
