Congressional stock trading has become a hugely contentious issue over the past couple of years.
Senators and representatives have access to a level of information that the general public is not privy to. Worse still, lawmakers regulate the very industries they are investing in — quite often, they even sit on congressional or senatorial committees focusing on specific sectors.
Little headway has been made in curtailing the practice. The STOCK Act, which regulates congressional trading, is violated on a regular basis. Politicians have 45 days to disclose any trade exceeding $1,000 — and the penalty for failing to do so is a mere $200.
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To use a real-world example, California representative Darrell Issa filed a $175 million trade in September of 2024 — however, he was 580 days late. The $200 fine he had to pay was 875,000 times smaller than the sum of his investment.
On top of that, while congressional stock trades are reported, the reporting is done in wide ranges — to use the most basic example, a $1,000,000 trade and a $5,000,000 trade fall into the same category, so the exact amounts being invested are obscured.
Finbold’s senatorial trading radar recently picked up on the fact that the junior Senator from Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, had filed a set of transactions on December 31 — including one from July. A closer look at the trades reveals a sight that bears all the hallmarks of a controversial congressional trade.
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Mullin failed to disclose a $15,000 investment in an educational company
The filing in question includes 24 transactions — most of which saw the senator exiting previously held long positions entirely. However, one trade stands out — a July 30 purchase of Stride, Inc. (NYSE: LRN) stock. Mullin’s investment in the mid-cap for-profit education company was valued at between $1,001 and $15,000, and the transaction was executed by his spouse.
At the time of the purchase, LRN stock was trading at $76.05. The filing also reveals that the senator sold his entire stake in the company on December 18, 2024. By then, the price of an LRN share had risen by 38.45%, up to $105.29.
Markwayne Mullin also happens to be a member of the Senate Committee on Education. Stride, Inc. provides virtual education solutions to both private and public schools — including in the senator’s home state of Oklahoma, as well as government agencies.
While the sale does pose the question of whether or not Stride’s future prospects have dimmed, the company has had four consecutive quarters of strong earnings beats — and is still trading at an attractive valuation, with a forward price-to-earnings (PE) ratio of just 15.85 at the time of writing.
Featured image via Shutterstock
