Strategy stock rises after buybacks, Bitcoin sales plan

Strategy shares climbed 7% on Thursday after the company rolled out a capital plan focused on stock buybacks, strategic Bitcoin sales and more active balance-sheet management. Citi Research kept a Buy rating but lowered its 12-month price target to $136 from $260. The stock had jumped nearly 13% on Monday and remains below its April 2025 highs.

The plan calls for strengthening cash reserves to support preferred dividend payments and using Bitcoin sales to fund share repurchases. Company executives described the approach as a move away from continuous capital issuance to a policy of active capital management. Chief Executive Phong Le characterized the change as moving from ‘one-way capital issuance to active capital management.’

Citi analyst Peter Christiansen reiterated a Buy rating while reducing the price target. Christiansen wrote that the lower target reflects Strategy’s updated capital policy and Citi’s revised 12-month outlook for Bitcoin. He added that reaching the $136 target depends on a higher Bitcoin price over the next year and a wider market-to-net asset value premium for the stock. Citi’s projection also assumes preferred offerings recover toward their $100 par values after about $1 billion in planned share repurchases.

Investor attention has focused on the company’s Stretch preferred shares trading under the ticker STRC. STRC has traded well below its $100 par value and recently hit a record low. The shares were the primary vehicle for raising capital for Bitcoin purchases over the past year, and their decline reduces the ease of using new preferred issues as a financing tool when they trade below par.

The drop in preferred prices has highlighted the company’s need to fund dividend obligations while generating limited revenue from its legacy software business and holding a large share of its assets in Bitcoin. Insider purchases have followed the price weakness: SEC filings show CEO Phong Le’s revocable trust bought 11,000 STRC shares on June 22 at an average price of $90.80, a purchase totaling $998,800. Filings also show Le directly owns 126,323 shares of Strategy common stock and several classes of preferred stock, and that he holds additional Stretch preferred shares indirectly through his children. Executive Vice President and General Counsel Thomas Chow bought 100 STRC shares at $92.71 and 11 STRK preferred shares at $66.10 on June 16.

The firm’s plan links potential buybacks to proceeds from Bitcoin sales, tying the stock’s performance more closely to cryptocurrency price movements. Analysts and investors are watching Bitcoin prices and preferred share valuations as key factors in the pace and scale of future repurchases and in the company’s ability to support preferred dividends.