Edible Apple

By Josh Rosenthall

With Apple shares trading at about $14 below its all-time high, Apple executive Bob Mansfield thought it’d be a good idea to trade in a boat load of his AAPL shares and turn some of that paper money into money in his bank account.

Mansfield is currently Apple’s Senior VP of Hardware Engineering and is often featured in Apple’s promo videos when new products are announced. In any event, Fortune reports that Mansfield recently sold 99% of his Apple shares, leaving him with 501.

One of the more pro-active traders is Bob Mansfield, Apple’s senior vice president in charge of Mac and iPhone hardware engineering. Not only does he exercise his options when the stock is high — always a good idea — but he picks up extra shares at the 15% employee discount when the stock is down.

On Monday, according to an SEC Form 4 filed yesterday, he executed his biggest trade yet, selling 38,863 shares of Apple at $351.89 each, clearing $13,675,504.96 in the deal and leaving only 501 shares in his portfolio.

While stock sales from executives can sometimes suggest rocky terrain ahead, Mansfield’s transactions appear to be nothing more than a savvy investor cashing in at the right time. Note that Mansfield still has vested options for another 30,000 Apple shares and will receive 100,000 more shares if he stays with the company until 2014. Clearly, Apple wants Mansfield – who previously worked as the VP of Engineering at Raycer Graphics – to stick around for the long haul.

So while Mansfield might have recently sold off most of his ownership of Apple for some of that green, he’s probably just taking some profits and gearing up for another meteoric rise in Apple shares.

The all-time high for Apple shares currently rests at $364.90. Over the past 5 years, Apple shares have exhibited unbelievable resilience and have grown in value by over 422%. Indeed, Fortune notes that over the past 5 years Mansfield has cashed in on nearly $58.5 million worth of Apple stock. After Uncle Sam takes his hefty cut, that leaves Mansfield with a more than respectable $37.9 million in take home money.