Should the SEC investigate the timely stock sales made by T-Mobile insiders?
T-Mobile insiders showed great timing when selling their shares before the stock sold off.
T-Mobile insiders show great timing when selling their shares. | Image by PhoneArena
Ever since it became known that T-Mobile and its majority owner Deutsche Telekom were discussing a merger, T-Mobile's shares have been in a free fall. The stock dropped from $195.39 to close today at $182.75, a 6.5% decline.
A combined T-Mobile-Deutsche Telekom would be the highest valued telecom firm
If the deal does get done, a combined T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom would be the most valuable telecom company in the world surpassing China Mobile. Monday's low of $182.01 was not that far from the stock's 52-week low of $181.36.
Investors who follow company insiders would have made a fortune with T-Mobile. Over the last six months, there have been 39 transactions involving T-Mobile insiders and 38 were sales with only one being a buy. That flashed a strong sell signal on T-Mobile shares.
38 T-Mobile insiders sold their shares for an average price of $218.42
T-Mobile insiders have to file a Form 4 with the SEC every time they buy or sell the carrier's stock. The law says that a company insider is someone who is a company director, or officer, or owns greater than a 10% stake in the company.
What do you think the SEC will find if they investighate these trades?
The average sell price of the 38 insider sales was $218.42. Totaling approximately 694,000 shares, by selling their T-Mobile shares when they did, the carrier's insiders saved themselves from watching their T-Mobile shares decline in value by an aggregate $24.75 million based on today's closing price.
Major T-Mobile insiders who have sold their shares recently
Some of the major insiders who sold their shares in a timely fashion include:
- Raul Marcelo Claure-the former Sprint CEO, sold 550,000 shares bringing in $119.7 million.
- Michael Sievert-currently a T-Mobile director, the former CEO sold 140,000 shares valued at $30.2 million.
- Mark Nelson Wolfe-Legal Chief and General Counsel, Wolfe dumped 16,514 giving him proceeds of $3.6 million.
- Peter Osvaldik- T-Mobile's Chief Financial Officer, got rid of 27,000 shares worth $5.8 million.
Does the timing of these trades seem sus to you? You might think so, but before you place a call to the SEC demanding an investigation, there are some things you need to know. Many of these transactions are done for reasons related to tax and estate planning.
The trading plan that protects insiders from insider trading claims
Still, trades done for tax and estate reasons could still be illegal if they were made with the knowledge of material inside information that the public doesn't know about. To prevent charges like that from being leveled against insiders, many file a 10b5-1 trading plan that includes the future dates when shares will be sold, price thresholds, and certain directions (such as sell X number of shares every month).
T-Mobile stock has had a tough 2026 so far. | Image by Google
Once such a trading plan is in place, the trades are executed automatically without any influence from the insider. Of the 38 trades where T-Mobile shares were sold by insiders, 26 were filed as 10b5-1 trading plans, which removes the appearance of insider trading.
The 10b5-1 trading plan was used by Mike Sievert for sales he made in late 2025 and early 2026. Large sales he made in February of this year followed a trading plan that Sievert filed in November 2024.
That leaves 12 sales made by T-Mobile insiders that were done in one of two ways:
- "Sell-to-Cover orders" are automatically executed to cover tax witholding obligations due when an insider has a restricted stock unit vest.
- Open Market Sales-regular sales made at the discretion of the insider without protection from a 10b5-1 trading plan, or a automatic sale to cover taxes.
Datar, Dean of Harvard Business School, is a T-Mobile director and last month he sold a total of 4,291 shares of T-Mobile at an average price of $221.10. His sales brought in $945,890. Based on today's price of $182.75, Datar saved nearly $165,000 in losses by selling when he did.
Former Sprint CEO Claure saved himself from a $19.2 million drop in value
Based on the SEC filings, most of the insider sales mentioned in this article were executed under a pre-filed trading plan. The exceptions are the sales made by Datar and Claure, which were discretionary open-market transactions.
By selling his block of T-Mobile shares for an average price of $217.57, Claure saved himself from watching the value of his stock decline by $19.2 million. The SEC might want to look at these two trades to make sure that insider information was not involved.
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