August 2020 144 Market Report

Due to a continued disruption in the dissemination of Form 144 filings from the SEC, we will not be able to release the normal 144 Market Data Report this month. Form 144’s are normally received by the SEC on paper and disseminated via the Public Reference Room. Due to social distancing requirements, no filings have been released from the Public Reference Room since April 3. In April, the SEC started accepting Form 144 filings digitally via email, however the number of filings received and disseminated digitally has been lower than typically expected.

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As shown on the chart below, the volume of Form 144 filings in August rose 67% from the prior month. However, the number of filings is 35% lower than the count filed in August 2019. The value of 144 filings also rose by over 86% month-over-month to the highest monthly aggregate since the pandemic began, in line with the historical average July-August increase of 90%. A substantial portion of the month’s increase was due to August’s largest filing by Morgan Stanley at AMZN for almost $3.2 billion, and without that filing the value of 10b5-1 filings in August would have declined from July.

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Based on these metrics, The Washington Service is estimating that the filings released so far constitute only about 60%-65% of the expected filings for the month of August. Given the absence of a significant portion of the expected filings, we do not have enough information about the market to provide our normal Broker Ranking assessment.

Top 144 Trades for August 2020 (Based on Partial Data):

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The Washington Service Research Team