Coppola Edward C: insider trades

Officer, Director at Macerich Co. 15 open-market purchases and 3 sales not made under a pre-set plan, reported from July 3, 2012 to March 29, 2024.

Would copying Coppola Edward C’s purchases have beaten the S&P 500?

Too few purchases to judge. Only 15 purchases have 12 months of prices after the report; we judge insiders once they have 20. The figures below can swing a long way on a handful of trades. Buying each purchase the day after it was reported, an equal amount each, and holding it 12 months or until they reported a sale would have turned $10,000 on May 14, 2019 into $2,839 by November 2, 2026, −15.5% a year. The copy held shares only 45% of the time, so the fair comparison is the S&P 500 on those same days with Treasury bills otherwise: $16,052, +6.6% a year (the S&P 500 held throughout made $29,782, +15.8% a year). Beta against the index was 0.92. Twelve months after each report, the average purchase was −35.5% against the S&P 500 (median −57.9%), and 33% beat it. Measured from the trade date, the insider’s own timing, the average was −39.3%. After their sales, the shares moved −3.0% against the index over 12 months on average (a negative figure means selling was the right call); 33% trailed it.

With 296 insiders tested, some will look skilled or unskilled by chance alone: when we replaced each insider’s stocks with random companies bought on the same days, about 5.7 cleared the bar ahead and 23.3 behind. One record on its own proves little.

Copying Coppola Edward CS&P 500, same days investedS&P 500, held throughout $10,000 copying Coppola Edward C’s open-market purchases from May 14, 2019, before costs and taxes, marked weekly. Each purchase gets the same starting stake, bought at the close of the first trading day after the report and sold 12 months later or the day after a reported sale of that stock; uninvested money earns the Treasury bill rate. “Same days invested” holds the S&P 500 only on the days the copy held shares, Treasury bills otherwise.

Return a year, copying: −15.5%
S&P 500, same days invested: +6.6% (held throughout +15.8%)
Time in shares: 45%
Sharpe ratio (S&P 500): −0.19 (0.70)
Biggest drop (S&P 500): −87% (−34%)
Market sensitivity (beta): 0.92
Purchases copied: 15

Trade by trade

Coppola Edward C: trades against the S&P 500 afterwards
Measured	Trades counted	Average vs S&P 500	Median	Went the right way	Years	t-statistic	p-value	Evidence
Purchases, 3 months after the report	15	−13.3%	−11.6%	13%	3	—	—	Not enough years
Purchases, 6 months after the report	15	−24.2%	−29.0%	20%	3	—	—	Not enough years
Purchases, 12 months after the report	15	−35.5%	−57.9%	33%	3	—	—	Not enough years
Purchases, 12 months after the trade	15	−39.3%	−58.0%	27%	3	—	—	Not enough years
Sales, 3 months after the report	3	−13.2%	−13.9%	100%	2	—	—	Not enough years
Sales, 12 months after the report	3	−3.0%	+0.3%	33%	2	—	—	Not enough years
Sales, 12 months after the trade	3	−7.1%	−3.9%	100%	2	—	—	Not enough years

“Average vs S&P 500” is the stock’s return including dividends minus the index’s over the same dates, from the close on the first trading day after the report, or from the close on the trade date. Only windows that have finished are counted. For sales, a negative figure means the stock lagged after it was sold, so selling was the right call (green). “Went the right way” is the share of purchases that beat the index, or of sales that trailed it. The t-statistic uses one average per year of reports, because one person’s trades bunch into the same stock and weeks, and needs trades in at least four different years; the p-value comes from the t distribution with that number of years (with four years, a t of 2 has p = 0.14). “Some evidence” means p under 5%, “strong evidence” p under 1% over at least six years.

Companies traded

Company	Title on the latest filing	Purchases	Sales	First report	Latest report
Macerich Co MAC	President	15	3	July 3, 2012	March 29, 2024

Trades and what followed

Moves are against the S&P 500; green means the trade went the insider’s way.

Reported	Traded	Company	Trade	Value	3 months after report	12 months after report	12 months after trade
March 29, 2024	March 27, 2024	MAC	Sale	$1,629,450	−16.6%	+0.3%	−3.7%
February 22, 2024	February 20, 2024	MAC	Sale	$860,000	−13.9%	+5.4%	−3.8%
September 26, 2022	September 23, 2022	MAC	Purchase	$399,000	+46.0%	+36.0%	+30.7%
July 1, 2022	June 30, 2022	MAC	Purchase	$525,000	−8.9%	+10.9%	+19.4%
June 14, 2022	June 10, 2022	MAC	Purchase	$411,200	−4.4%	+11.7%	+5.1%
April 4, 2022	March 31, 2022	MAC	Purchase	$33,390	−24.2%	−20.8%	−20.9%
March 29, 2022	March 28, 2022	MAC	Purchase	$149,800	−27.6%	−21.1%	−20.4%
March 31, 2020	March 27, 2020	MAC	Purchase	$411,350	+32.0%	+64.7%	+41.7%
March 18, 2020	March 16, 2020	MAC	Purchase	$160,773	−7.9%	+15.0%	−19.1%
February 20, 2020	February 19, 2020	MAC	Purchase	$230,300	−57.4%	−57.9%	−59.0%
February 14, 2020	February 12, 2020	MAC	Purchase	$233,000	−55.9%	−59.8%	−58.0%
August 14, 2019	August 9, 2019	MAC	Purchase	$411,187	−12.9%	−91.1%	−87.5%
August 9, 2019	August 7, 2019	MAC	Purchase	$560,990	−11.6%	−88.1%	−90.7%
July 1, 2019	June 27, 2019	MAC	Purchase	$116,715	−6.5%	−77.9%	−78.4%
June 26, 2019	June 25, 2019	MAC	Purchase	$164,400	−3.5%	−78.4%	−77.9%
May 29, 2019	May 24, 2019	MAC	Purchase	$192,275	−25.5%	−90.9%	−87.5%
May 13, 2019	May 10, 2019	MAC	Purchase	$202,500	−31.4%	−85.3%	−86.2%
July 3, 2012	June 29, 2012	MAC	Sale	$5,274,000	−8.9%	−14.8%	−13.6%

Open-market purchases and sales of at least $10,000 in companies we cover, from SEC Form 4 filings; sales made under a pre-set Rule 10b5-1 plan are not shown. “Not yet” means the window has not finished or the share price was under $5 at entry. These are the shares’ moves after each trade: they say nothing about why Coppola Edward C traded and do not suggest the use of non-public information. How every insider compares · the insider trading backtest.