ChargePoint Holdings director Susan Heystee bought $250,000 of shares of the EV-charging firm.
Courtesy of ChargePoint
It’s been a rocky road for some companies that build charging networks for electric vehicles, but one has gotten a big vote of confidence from its newest director.
ChargePoint Holdings (ticker: CHPT
) stock has been cut in half in 2021, a year that has seen the wider market surge. In fact, the S&P 500 index sports a year-to-date gain of 23%. The company’s fiscal third-quarter report earlier this month was disappointing. But in September, ChargePoint CEO told us, “We are in the early innings …we are far from done” in terms of growth.
ChargePoint director Susan Heystee paid $250,000 on Dec. 10 for 12,500 shares, an average per-share price of $19.95. According to a form she filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Heystee purchased those shares through a trust. She also owns the equivalent of 12,080 ChargePoint shares in a personal account, restricted stock units received from Heystee’s service as a director. She joined ChargePoint’s board six months ago.
ChargePoint didn’t respond to a request to speak with Heystee. It’s Heystee’s first open-market purchase of CharePoint stock, and the first by a company insider this year.
Heystee is also a director of Ouster ( OUST
), a company focused on lidar technology, a system of sensors and software to enable self-driving cars.
Earlier this month, J.P. Morgan analyst Bill Peterson wrote in a report, “We continue to have a favorable view of ChargePoint’s ‘land and expand’ opportunities in EV charging, and we believe the key for ChargePoint will be to continue bringing innovated hardware-and-software solutions to market.” But Peterson has a Neutral rating on ChargePoint stock, and a December 2022 target price of $26.
He added, “the company’s strong growth and recurring revenue model is well-reflected in the stock and believe the risk/reward is relatively balanced at present.”
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Due to their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at [email protected] and follow @BarronsEdLin.
