One week after Realogy stock sank to a new low, CEO Ryan Schneider has purchased $1 million worth of the company’s shares in an apparent show of support for the brand.
Ryan Schneider | Credit: Realogy
Schneider purchased a total of 119,300 shares Wednesday at a price of $8.38 per share, according to financial documents Realogy filed. The move brings Schneider’s total holdings in Realogy to 352,761 shares.
Realogy spokesperson Trey Sarten confirmed the purchase to Inman, saying that it reinforces Schneider’s commitment to Realogy and the company’s future.
Schneider’s purchase comes after Realogy’s stock has taken a beating in recent days. Following the company’s latest earnings report, which revealed declining revenue, Realogy stock on May 2 fell to an all-time low of $10.10 per share — or nearly $4 less than the previous all-time low in February.
A graph showing Realogy’s stock price over the last year | Credit: Yahoo Finance
In the days since that latest earnings report, Realogy stock continued its slide, ultimately closing at $8.30 on Wednesday. The price stands in stark contrast to years past; in the summer of 2017, Realogy shares were trading at more than $30. During the first half of 2015, they were pushing $50.
However, a series of disappointing earnings reports appears to have shaken investors confidence in the company, which is the largest residential real estate firm in America. Realogy owns NRT, the largest brokerage by sales volume in the U.S., and the well-known brokerage brands Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Coldwell Banker, Corcoran, Century 21, Sotheby’s International Realty, ERA, Citi Habitats, Climb Real Estate and ZipRealty.
Asked Wednesday about Realogy’s stock and Schneider’s purchase, Sarten said in an email that a “company’s equity performance and health are two different things.”
“Realogy’s financials are healthy,” Sarten continued. “We have a strong balance sheet, we reported $658 million of profit in 2018 and generated $325 million in free cash flow, which we can use to invest in our business.”
Realogy unveiled some investments in its business last month during a conference in Las Vegas. Among other things, the company launched a new Facebook advertising tool and a voice-powered digital assistant.
It also recently expanded its iBuyer program.
In his email, Sarten also said that Realogy believes “the market will improve sequentially quarter to quarter, especially in the back half of the year.” Moreover, the company has already seen “some improvement” in April and remains “optimistic” about it’s future.
“Against the backdrop of housing market conditions and increased competition,” Sarten said, “we have remained focused executing on our strategy to enhance our value proposition while finding operating efficiencies that together will allow us to come out even stronger as the market improves.”