CEO Trims Marriott Stake With Shares at All-Time High

By Trey Thoelcke Published Feb 28, 11:15AM EST

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CEO Trims Marriott Stake With Shares at All-Time High — © JHVEPhoto / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

Following the behavior of company insiders as they manage their positions in their own companies can reveal a lot. People may sell shares for many reasons, such as buying a house, paying for college, or estate planning. Generally, they buy shares for only one reason: to make more money.

Often, one of the largest and best-informed shareholders in any company is the chief executive officer. Let’s have a look at whether Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR | MAR Price Prediction) CEO Anthony Capuano 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 Marriott

Lodging and resorts

Marriott International operates, franchises, and licenses hotel, residential, timeshare, and other lodging properties worldwide. It operates properties under 30 brand names, including Marriott, Sheraton, Westin, Ritz-Carlton, Courtyard, Residence Inn, and Fairfield, in 138 countries and territories. (Customers are abandoning these 25 brands.)

Marriott International was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. That is also home to Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT). Competitors of Marriott include Hilton Hotels Corp. (NYSE: HLT), Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE: H), InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (NYSE: IHG), and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: WH). Capuano has been Marriott’s chief executive since 2021, and he is also its president.

The company posted annual revenue of over $6.1 billion, and its market capitalization is around $72.8 billion. The stock is up more than 11% year to date, handily outperforming the S&P 500 in that time, and near an all-time high of $252.17. The share price is 47% or so higher than a year ago.

How Marriott’s CEO Is Trading

Buying or selling?

One year ago, Capuano owned more than 107,900 shares, worth over $15.1 million. On last look, that share count was 5,700 or so lower to almost 102,200, which is a stake of much less than 1%. The value of the stake has decreased nearly 12% to around $13.3 million.

Shares a Year Ago	Shares Today	% Change
107,936	102,190	−5.3%

CEO Anthony Capuano could have sold shares for a variety of reasons, and we may never know why. Unless he knows something that we don’t, there’s little reason to suspect a lack of confidence. The company posted strong fourth-quarter and 2023 results, and the dividend is 300% higher than a decade ago. However, the share price has overrun the analysts’ mean price target, and the consensus recommendation is to hold shares.

Other shareholders to keep an eye on include Richard Marriott, son of the founder, and former CEO John Marriott. They each have a stake larger than Capuano’s, worth $2.8 billion and $2.2 billion, respectively. And note that several other insiders have been selling shares this month.

About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.