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US Senator David Perdue Says His Advisers Will Not Trade Individual Shares

 


US Senator David Perdue, after reviewing and criticizing his portfolio, said his advisers would no longer trade the stocks of individual companies.

Friday evening’s announcement coincided with the filing of a report outlining the transactions on his behalf during the previous month.

“As you can see in the April report, Bonnie and I have restructured our retirement savings to eliminate individual stock market transactions,” Perdue said in a statement.

According to the report, after April 7, no purchase of company shares was made on behalf of Perdue. the Monthly report of periodic transactions shows sales and purchases in the ranges, but the senator’s office provided The Atlanta Journal-Constitution with exact figures.

Perdue’s advisers completed 174 stock sales totaling approximately $ 5.61 million in mid-April. This includes the sale of shares in companies such as the pharmaceutical conglomerate Pfizer, Starbucks, Delta Airlines and DuPont de Nemours, which manufactures personal protective equipment.

This money was generally used to buy stocks of exchange traded funds, collections of securities similar to mutual funds. Perdue’s office said that $ 5.8 million in total purchases were made last month.

“This is a personal decision that Senator Perdue and his wife made to avoid any confusion about their retirement savings, and they did so on a voluntary basis, “said spokeswoman Cherie Gillan in a statement. .

Georgia’s other senator, Kelly Loeffler, announced a similar divestment decision on April 8. The changes were reflected in reports tabled last week.

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The two senators have been criticized by monitoring groups and political opponents for stock market transactions during the coronavirus pandemic. Government agencies were asked to investigate them and other members of Congress to see if they had used inside information during the COVID-19 pandemic to determine which companies to buy and sell stocks in.

Perdue and Loeffler denied any fault and stated that their stock market transactions were managed by advisers who operated independently and without their input.

Government transparency groups have said that members of Congress should not hold stocks in sole proprietorships to avoid allegations of conflict of interest. These groups have urged lawmakers to invest their wealth in blind trusts or to invest in mutual or exchange-traded funds instead.

Although Perdue is now largely deprived of the trading of shares in individual companies, his office said that he retained approximately $ 4 million in shares of three Georgia-based companies where he served on the board before becoming congressman. The shares of these shares represented Perdue’s remuneration for its services and they are held in brokerage accounts which will not be negotiated.

Recent changes have brought Perdue’s portfolio back to about the same value as at the start of the year, even though the stock market has fluctuated widely during the virus epidemic. Perdue’s office said its portfolio was valued at $ 21.3 million in December, plunged to $ 18.3 million in March and returned to $ 21.8 million in April.