SoFi's stock rises as CEO Anthony Noto reacts to recent selloff with a $1 million purchase

By Emily Bary

Noto, who already owns a SoFi stake worth about $215 million on paper, has been known to buy the dip before

SoFi CEO Anthony Noto is the largest individual owner of the company's stock, according to FactSet data.

With SoFi shares under pressure recently, CEO Anthony Noto bought up stock in a sign of his conviction in the company's fundamentals.

Noto purchased about $1 million worth of the financial-technology company's stock on Monday, buying up shares at about $17.88 apiece.

While Noto isn't a founder of SoFi (SOFI), he's amassed nearly 1% of the company's outstanding shares, enough to make him the largest individual owner of the stock, according to FactSet data. He owned about 11.7 million shares directly as of Monday's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SoFi didn't respond to a MarketWatch request for comment on behalf of the company or Noto.

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When a corporate insider buys a beaten-down stock, the move can be interpreted as a signal that the executive sees the shares as undervalued. In this case, Noto spent $1 million on his purchase despite already sitting on SoFi shares that are worth about $215 million at recent prices.

He's been known to scoop up shares before, including in 2023 when financial stocks sold off in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's failure. SoFi shares went on to more than triple from the levels below $6 when Noto made his purchases back then.

SoFi's stock has gotten off to a rough start this year, falling 30% over the course of 2026 to date. The financials sector as a whole has lagged, and neobanks haven't been immune: "We believe that the underperformance in some of the digital banks has been driven more by positioning and valuation than by specific AI concerns," Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Tim Switzer wrote in a Sunday note to clients.

See more: Financial stocks are off to their worst yearly start in a decade. How to spot value.

But he also saw some company-specific issues, including that the stock appears to have lost some favor with its retail-oriented investor base.

Despite having an underperform call on the stock, Switzer and his team "have been a little surprised by the magnitude of SoFi's move, although the stock exhibits several of the factors that have created pressure in this market, including an extremely high valuation multiple and beta," he wrote.

"It also appears that retail investors shedding exposure have contributed to the weakness, or at least a waning desire to 'buy the dip' that has often supported shares during periods of weakness."

Perhaps investors will take notice of Noto's willingness to buy the dip. SoFi shares rose 1.6% in Monday's extended session.

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-Emily Bary

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03-02-26 2028ET