Penn Entertainment CEO Buys $850K in Shares
Date: 2024-09-10 Author: Robert Beloved Categories: PEOPLE
Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden continues to show confidence in his company despite its stock price slumping. In early September, he boosted his stake in the company by purchasing an additional 54,200 shares worth about $1 million.
Snowden Now Owns Nearly a Million Shares
According to a Sept. 3 SEC filing, Snowden bought the shares at an average price of $18.44 per share, with a range of $18.15 to $18.76 per share.
Penn Entertainment shares peaked in 2021, but have been on a steady decline since then. Despite the slowdown in 2023, the company still faces challenges in maintaining a stable price. The stock has fallen another 6% in the last month, to $17.67 per share.
With this latest purchase, Jay Snowden now owns a total of 853,045 shares of the company.
While Snowden has not commented on his purchase, trading experts are trying to understand what exactly prompted the decision.
Possible reasons for the stock purchase
Analysts have put forward several hypotheses regarding the CEO’s strategy. One theory suggests that Snowden is counting on the stock to rise during the NFL season, including thanks to the success of the ESPN Bet sportsbook. Although ESPN Bet has not yet achieved significant success, the football season could be the catalyst for its growth.
Wall Street experts remain skeptical, however. They believe that ESPN Bet may not live up to expectations and predict serious financial losses for the company in 2024. Some analysts even suggest the possibility that Penn's land-based casinos could be acquired by competitors like Boyd Gaming or Flutter, while ESPN Bet could end up in the hands of another company.
Another possible reason is that Snowden wanted to show his confidence in the development prospects of Penn Entertainment, including its casinos and the ESPN Bet brand. Such actions are not unique and have been seen before by other executives in similar situations.
Despite the general industry push for stock sales in 2024, Snowden decided to buy, which could be perceived as a positive signal for the company's investors.
