Gary Palmer’s disclosed stock trades — and what copying them returned

Gary Palmer (House) has disclosed 164 stock trades under the STOCK Act, from Sep 29, 2018 to Nov 7, 2018136 buys and 28 sells, read straight from the official filings. The median gap between a trade and the public finding out was 79 days — which is why every number below starts at the disclosure date, the earliest day anyone could actually have copied a trade.

What copying every disclosed buy would have returned

Our engine bought at the first opening price after each of Gary Palmer’s disclosed purchases became public, held until the matching sale was disclosed, and marked the book against simply holding the S&P 500 over the same window (Oct 1, 2018Aug 11, 2026). Fees on, position sizes equal — a filing never discloses the real amount, only a band.

Copy-return, total+193.4%
S&P 500 over the same window+197.2%
Difference-3.8%
Annualized over 7.9 years+14.7% vs +14.9% -0.2% a year against the index
Deepest fall along the way-33.7%
Positions that closed ahead45%
Disclosed buys / actually copied136 / 115

Read the fill count before the return: a figure built on a handful of copied positions is an anecdote, whatever it says. And a copy-return is not Gary Palmer’s own return — the disclosure lag means a copier never got their entry price.

Most-traded tickers

MPC (6) · MSFT (6) · SYY (5) · ESRX (5) · CELG (5) · TJX (5) · GM (4) · VMW (4) · KR (4) · T (4)

Recent filings

The latest 50 disclosed trades, newest filing first. Both dates are shown because the gap between them is the whole story.

TickerTypeTradedDisclosedLagAmount band
MTDSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
GMSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
VMWSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
SYYSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
SYYSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
NTRSSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
MPCSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
MPCSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
KRSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
ESRXSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
ESRXSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
CTLSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
CELGSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
TSellOct 5, 2018Nov 7, 201833d$1,001 - $15,000
REGNSellSep 18, 2018Oct 9, 201821d$1,001 - $15,000
CTLBuySep 17, 2018Oct 9, 201822d$1,001 - $15,000
TJXBuySep 10, 2018Oct 9, 201829d$1,001 - $15,000
TJXBuySep 10, 2018Oct 9, 201829d$1,001 - $15,000
NTRSBuySep 24, 2018Oct 9, 201815d$1,001 - $15,000
IDTISellSep 18, 2018Oct 9, 201821d$1,001 - $15,000
ELSellAug 27, 2018Oct 9, 201843d$1,001 - $15,000
AMZNSellSep 18, 2018Oct 9, 201821d$1,001 - $15,000
WDCBuyAug 14, 2017Sep 29, 2018411d$1,001 - $15,000
WPGBuyJul 12, 2018Sep 29, 201879d$1,001 - $15,000
VMWBuyJul 12, 2018Sep 29, 201879d$1,001 - $15,000
AMTDBuyJul 31, 2017Sep 29, 2018425d$1,001 - $15,000
LUVBuyApr 4, 2017Sep 29, 2018543d$1,001 - $15,000
RFBuyJul 12, 2018Sep 29, 201879d$1,001 - $15,000
RGCBuyApr 4, 2017Sep 29, 2018543d$1,001 - $15,000
PSECBuyJul 12, 2018Sep 29, 201879d$1,001 - $15,000
PNCBuyApr 4, 2017Sep 29, 2018543d$1,001 - $15,000
MTDBuyJul 12, 2018Sep 29, 201879d$1,001 - $15,000
MPCBuyAug 6, 2018Sep 29, 201854d$1,001 - $15,000
MPCBuyNov 27, 2017Sep 29, 2018306d$1,001 - $15,000
HLTBuyAug 6, 2018Sep 29, 201854d$1,001 - $15,000
ESRXBuyApr 4, 2017Sep 29, 2018543d$1,001 - $15,000
ESRXBuyAug 6, 2018Sep 29, 201854d$1,001 - $15,000
CMCSABuyAug 6, 2018Sep 29, 201854d$1,001 - $15,000
CXBuyJul 12, 2018Sep 29, 201879d$1,001 - $15,000
CXBuyAug 6, 2018Sep 29, 201854d$1,001 - $15,000
ASNDBuyAug 6, 2018Sep 29, 201854d$1,001 - $15,000
VBuyAug 6, 2018Sep 29, 201854d$1,001 - $15,000
TSNBuyApr 4, 2017Sep 29, 2018543d$1,001 - $15,000
TMUSBuyApr 17, 2017Sep 29, 2018530d$1,001 - $15,000
TJXBuyJul 12, 2018Sep 29, 201879d$1,001 - $15,000
TGTBuyJul 12, 2018Sep 29, 201879d$1,001 - $15,000
TLRDBuyApr 4, 2017Sep 29, 2018543d$1,001 - $15,000
SYYBuyAug 6, 2018Sep 29, 201854d$1,001 - $15,000
SYYBuyJul 12, 2018Sep 29, 201879d$1,001 - $15,000
SYFBuyMay 7, 2018Sep 29, 2018145d$1,001 - $15,000

Full history, sorting and the CSV export live in Pulse. Open Congress in Pulse.

Hear about the next filing the day it lands

A filing is only useful in the days after it appears — exactly when nobody is watching the disclosure sites. Follow Gary Palmer in Pulse and you get an email as soon as their next report is parsed: the trades in it, both dates, and how long they sat on it.

See plans All members and how the ranking works

Entries are at the first open AFTER the disclosure date — the earliest any copier could act. The member's own entry was up to 45 days earlier. Disclosed amounts are bands, not sizes; every position is sized at your chosen % of portfolio, which is not how the member sized it. Option purchases are copied as the underlying shares. A filing discloses no strike and no expiry, so an option cannot be mirrored — buying the stock is the closest a reader could get. It is 1.6% of all disclosed buys, but for some members it is a quarter to a half of everything they file, so their figure describes copying the filing rather than what the position itself did. Dividends are treated as reinvested (adjusted closes). Fees and taxes are not modeled. Positions are sized from equity at the time of each entry, so gains compound into later position sizes and most of the account sits in cash between filings. Read the drawdown next to the exposure figures: a portfolio that is mostly cash shows a small whole-portfolio drawdown even when its holdings fell hard. Absolute returns are model outputs, not achievable returns. Past disclosures are no promise of future filings — members stop trading, leave office, or file late in batches.