© Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Traffic on I-43 whizzes by Koss Corp. Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in Milwaukee, Wis. The headphone maker's stock is the latest in a string of stocks that have been propelled higher by chatter by internet traders.
An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information about the number of shares sold.
Koss Corp. execs have made more than $40 million selling stock in recent days.
Documents filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission show members of the Koss family and the Nancy Koss Trust selling thousands of shares.
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President and CEO Michael J. Koss sold 36,000 shares for $960,030 according to the new filings for himself and as a co-trustee for his children. Vice President of Sales John C. Koss Jr. sold 15,000 shares for $374,400.
The Nancy Koss Trust in honor of the company founder's late wife sold around 100,000 shares of Koss stock for more than $3.5 million, according to documents filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These sales were previously reported to the SEC in earlier filings made by other members of the family.
Members of the Koss family have been selling shares of the company's stock since the share price soared because of interest from online traders. Members of the family have sold more than $30 million in stock.
Other high-ranking employees at the company have sold around $12 million worth, according to SEC filings.
In all, Koss "insiders" have sold more than $40 million in recent days.
"These people have to feel sort of like they won the lottery," said Joe Maier, senior vice president and director of wealth strategy at Johnson Financial Group. The company has not made any public statements about its stock in recent days. Koss did not respond to a reporter's questions Monday.
The Milwaukee-based stereophone-maker, based on its stock price, was worth around $25 million at the end of 2020. Before the stock market frenzy, shares of Koss were selling for around $3. In the last five years, the stock never traded above $5 a share. It peaked at $127.45 a share on Jan. 29.
The stock was down Monday around 5% to close as $19.
"The price is just too high to turn it down," Maier said.
Koss reported an 18.4% increase in sales in its last quarterly report for the three months ending Dec. 31. Koss had reported a decline in earnings for the previous six quarters.
Koss was founded by John C. Koss in 1953 as a television rental company. The Koss family has retained control after going public in the late 1960s. Company insiders held around 80% of Koss stock prior to this selloff.
"They have a lot of shares to sell before worrying about losing control," Maier said.
The only bullet-proof way to stay in control is to maintain ownership of 50% of the stock, he said. The family likely isn't concerned that the traders buying Koss stock are trying to gain control.
"This doesn't feel like people trying to take over the company," Maier said. "This is a bunch of people who are investing in the company to make a social statement." No documents filed with the SEC show another new individual reaching 5% or more ownership.
A previous version of this story misstated the total amount of stock that Koss insiders have sold. Sales of stock made by the Nancy Koss Trust were previously reported by SEC documents filed by other members of the family.
Sarah Hauer can be reached at shauer@journalsentinel.com or on Instagram @HauerSarah and Twitter @SarahHauer. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter Be MKE at jsonline.com/bemke.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The Koss family has pocketed another $1 million by selling stock