Lamar Smith’s disclosed stock trades — and what copying them returned

Lamar Smith (House) has disclosed 291 stock trades under the STOCK Act, from Jan 2, 2014 to Jan 10, 2019144 buys and 142 sells, read straight from the official filings. The median gap between a trade and the public finding out was 27 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 Lamar Smith’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 (Jan 3, 2014Aug 11, 2026). Fees on, position sizes equal — a filing never discloses the real amount, only a band.

Copy-return, total+431.6%
S&P 500 over the same window+420.5%
Difference+11.1%
Annualized over 12.6 years+14.2% vs +14.0% +0.2% a year against the index
Deepest fall along the way-33.7%
Positions that closed ahead74%
Disclosed buys / actually copied144 / 98

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 Lamar Smith’s own return — the disclosure lag means a copier never got their entry price.

Most-traded tickers

RHT (12) · VRSK (9) · MSFT (7) · PX (7) · UNP (7) · KR (7) · MJN (7) · CTSH (7) · MNST (6) · ZTS (6)

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
MNSTSellDec 20, 2018Jan 10, 201921d$1,001 - $15,000
ELBuyDec 19, 2018Jan 10, 201922d$1,001 - $15,000
CPRTBuyDec 19, 2018Jan 10, 201922d$1,001 - $15,000
ICEPartial sellNov 14, 2018Dec 13, 201829d$1,001 - $15,000
VRSKPartial sellNov 20, 2018Dec 13, 201823d$1,001 - $15,000
MSFTPartial sellNov 14, 2018Dec 13, 201829d$1,001 - $15,000
ZTSPartial sellOct 31, 2018Dec 13, 201843d$1,001 - $15,000
VRSKPartial sellNov 27, 2018Dec 13, 201816d$1,001 - $15,000
ULTISellNov 1, 2018Dec 13, 201842d$1,001 - $15,000
LXFRBuyNov 1, 2018Dec 13, 201842d$1,001 - $15,000
WTWBuyOct 4, 2018Nov 8, 201835d$1,001 - $15,000
SIXPartial sellOct 2, 2018Nov 8, 201837d$1,001 - $15,000
PXPartial sellOct 11, 2018Nov 8, 201828d$1,001 - $15,000
CPRTBuyOct 24, 2018Nov 8, 201815d$1,001 - $15,000
SIXSellOct 3, 2018Nov 8, 201836d$1,001 - $15,000
PXExchangeOct 31, 2018Nov 8, 20188d$1,001 - $15,000
LINExchangeOct 31, 2018Nov 8, 20188d$1,001 - $15,000
CPRTBuyOct 11, 2018Nov 8, 201828d$1,001 - $15,000
CCJBuyOct 8, 2018Nov 8, 201831d$1,001 - $15,000
ULTIPartial sellSep 26, 2018Oct 9, 201813d$1,001 - $15,000
ZTSPartial sellAug 30, 2018Oct 9, 201840d$1,001 - $15,000
MTNPartial sellSep 26, 2018Oct 9, 201813d$1,001 - $15,000
CRLSellSep 26, 2018Oct 9, 201813d$1,001 - $15,000
TFXBuyAug 8, 2018Sep 7, 201830d$1,001 - $15,000
VRSKPartial sellJul 31, 2018Sep 7, 201838d$1,001 - $15,000
MXLBuyAug 8, 2018Sep 7, 201830d$1,001 - $15,000
ULTIPartial sellJul 26, 2018Aug 8, 201813d$1,001 - $15,000
VRSKPartial sellJul 31, 2018Aug 8, 20188d$1,001 - $15,000
RTNBuyJul 24, 2018Aug 8, 201815d$1,001 - $15,000
MTNPartial sellJul 17, 2018Aug 8, 201822d$1,001 - $15,000
CRLPartial sellJul 26, 2018Aug 8, 201813d$1,001 - $15,000
ZTSPartial sellJun 4, 2018Jul 10, 201836d$1,001 - $15,000
RHTPartial sellJun 22, 2018Jul 10, 201818d$1,001 - $15,000
YELPPartial sellMay 7, 2018Jun 11, 201835d$1,001 - $15,000
MIKSellMay 8, 2018Jun 11, 201834d$1,001 - $15,000
WSTBuyApr 30, 2018May 8, 20188d$1,001 - $15,000
UNPPartial sellApr 23, 2018May 8, 201815d$1,001 - $15,000
SYKBuyApr 13, 2018May 8, 201825d$1,001 - $15,000
PXBuyApr 27, 2018May 8, 201811d$1,001 - $15,000
YELPPartial sellApr 26, 2018May 8, 201812d$1,001 - $15,000
UNPSellApr 26, 2018May 8, 201812d$1,001 - $15,000
SYKBuyApr 23, 2018May 8, 201815d$1,001 - $15,000
RHTPartial sellApr 12, 2018May 8, 201826d$1,001 - $15,000
RHTSellMar 19, 2018Apr 11, 201823d$1,001 - $15,000
RHTSellMar 8, 2018Apr 11, 201834d$1,001 - $15,000
MNSTBuyMar 6, 2018Apr 11, 201836d$1,001 - $15,000
CRLBuyFeb 13, 2018Mar 7, 201822d$1,001 - $15,000
PXBuyFeb 14, 2018Mar 7, 201821d$1,001 - $15,000
PXBuyFeb 7, 2018Mar 7, 201828d$1,001 - $15,000
CPRTBuyFeb 8, 2018Mar 7, 201827d$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 Lamar Smith 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.