CEO Dumps 20 Million Ginkgo Bioworks Shares

By Trey Thoelcke Published Feb 29, 10:15AM EST

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

CEO Dumps 20 Million Ginkgo Bioworks Shares — © kirstypargeter / Getty Images

Investors can learn a lot by observing how corporate insiders handle positions in their own companies. There are many reasons insiders may sell shares, such as buying a house, paying for college, or estate planning. Yet, they generally buy shares for only one reason: they believe they will make more money.

Often, one of the largest and best-informed shareholders in any company is the chief executive officer. Let’s see whether Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DNA) CEO Jason Kelly has been increasing or decreasing his share count over the past year and whether he knows something we don’t.

What You Need to Know About Ginkgo Bioworks

Biological production

Ginkgo Bioworks develops platform for cell programming. Its platform is used to program cells to enable biological production of products, such as novel therapeutics, food ingredients, and chemicals derived from petroleum. The company serves various end markets, including specialty chemicals, agriculture, food, consumer products, and pharmaceuticals. (These 25 American industries are booming.)

The biotechnology company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. That is also home to American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT | AMT Price Prediction), DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ: DKNG), and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE). Competitors of Ginkgo Bioworks include CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ: CRSP) and Editas Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: EDIT). Kelly has been chief executive at Ginkgo Bioworks since he co-founded it in 2008.

The company posted annual revenue of about $315.0 million and has a market capitalization near $2.8 billion. Shares hit a 52-week low of $1.12 last month and were last seen down about 16% year to date but less than 4% lower than a year ago. The Nasdaq’s gain in the past year is more than 40%.

How the CEO at Ginkgo Bioworks Is Trading

Buying or selling?

One year ago, Kelly owned more than 108.2 million shares, worth over $337.6 million. On last look, he owed more than 88.1 million shares, a stake of more than 4%. The stake was reduced by about 20 million shares, and its value decreased around 67.8% to near $108.6 million as the share price dropped.

Shares a Year Ago	Shares Today	% Change
108,213,460	88,152,333	−18.54%

As mentioned, CEO Jason Kelly might have sold shares for many reasons. Is it fair to interpret this reduction as a lack of confidence about a turnaround? The stock is down over 87% since a short seller report in late 2021. Earnings results fell short of expectations in the past few quarters. Only two of eight analysts recommend buying shares. However, they have a consensus price target of $3.08, which indicates they see the stock doubling in the next 12 months.

Additional insiders to watch include the other co-founders: Austin Che (head of strategy), Reshma Shetty (president and chief operating officer), and Barry Canton (chief technology officer). Each has a stake a little larger than Kelly’s.

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.