(MarketWatch) -- Through his preset stock-trading plan, Mattel Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Eckert exercised stock options during the final two weeks of the toy maker's first quarter, resulting in the sale of 1 million company shares.The sales, completed in separate transactions between March 20 and March 26, occurred when El Segundo-based Mattel's stock price was near its highest levels of the quarter. This week, the shares tumbled, hurt by the toy maker's disappointing earnings report.
The stock sales were Eckert's first since joining Mattel eight years ago. They were carried out in accordance with his 10b5-1 trading plan, approved by Mattel's board Feb. 20 and disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing at the time.
Senior executives at public companies use 10b5-1 trading plans to make prearranged trades at specified prices or dates in the future. So as not to run afoul of insider-trading laws, the plans are set up when an executive is not in possession of material nonpublic information that could affect the value of that executive's holdings.
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