Abiomed Inc. (NSDQ:ABMD) CEO Michael Minogue rode the company’s hot stock performance this year to a $3.2 million payout, taking advantage of stock options in trades executed this month.
The Danvers, Mass.-based company’s shares have risen 73 percent since the close of 2010, hitting $16.63 yesterday, largely on the strength of its Impella heart pump. In a series of trades from late February to the end of March, Minogue sold more than 40,000 shares at an average price of $14.59, grossing about $583,000, according to filings with the federal Securities & Exchange Commission.
Another series of trades began April 4, when Minogue was able to acquire options at $9.05 per share. He bought 400,000 shares at that price and sold them at an average of $15.67, for a net profit of more than $2.6 million.
Read more of MassDevice.com’s coverage of Abiomed
Abiomed vastly outperformed both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones IHI index of medical device stocks in the first quarter. The S&P 500 Index gained 5.4 percent during the period; the Dow IHI was up 9.1 percent during that span. ABMD stock averaged $12.32 during the quarter and closed the three months ended March 31 at $14.53.
The first-quarter spike (which corresponds to Abiomed’s fiscal 2011 fourth quarter) highlights the company’s steady advances since it won 510(k) clearance for the Impella 5.0 and LD pumps nearly two years ago. Back then Abiomed shares were trading at about $5.50; since then it’s reported steadily increasing sales and cut its net losses considerably. The company rang Wall Street’s bell — literally — with its third-quarter results, reporting that sales jumped nearly 23 percent during the three months ended Dec. 31., to $27.2 million. That helped it pare losses to just $802,000, or 2 cents per share. Abiomed posted losses of $4.6 million, or 12 cents per share, on sales of $22.8 million during Q3 2010.
That performance itself sent shares up about 25 percent that day, which ended with Minogue ringing the NASDAQ exchange’s closing bell.
