Face-Mask Maker’s 400% Rally Spurs Huge Insider Share Sales

(Bloomberg) -- Alpha Pro Tech Ltd.'s head of Investor Relations -- the widow of a former chairman -- took advantage of the company's more than 400% surge this year to sell $13.6 million in stock.

Donna Millar, who has been a board member since 2017, the same year her late husband and Alpha-Pro co-founder died, sold more than 350,000 shares on Feb. 28, according to a regulatory filing. Even after the sale, Millar remains the company's largest holder with more than 1.2 million shares, the filings show, worth $24 million based on Tuesday's close.

The health care supply company, which sells face masks among other medical products, has seen its stock price soar as investors piled into companies that make gear that's designed to help guard against the spread of infectious disease like Covid-19. While shares are up more than 350% in the past year, they've also been volatile lately, ranging between $3.20 and $41.59 since early December.

Millar was not the only member of Alpha Pro Tech management to take advantage of the rocketing share price. Four other members of the board of directors exercised options and sold millions in shares, filings show. Chief Executive Lloyd Hoffman sold $7.76 million in shares, according to filings, bringing his total holding to just 1,000 shares.

Alpha Pro Tech shares sank as much as 15% in Wednesday's trading after the news of management sales circulated. Neither an Alpha Pro Tech representative nor Millar were immediately available for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bailey Lipschultz in New York at blipschultz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Scott Schnipper

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.