Manulife Financial Insiders Sell CA$4.3m Of Stock, Possibly Signalling Caution

Many Manulife Financial Corporation (TSE:MFC) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company's shareholders. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, when multiple insiders sell stock over a specific duration, shareholders should take notice as that could possibly be a red flag.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

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Manulife Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The insider, Roy Gori, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for CA$2.0m worth of shares at a price of CA$46.07 each. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of CA$42.89. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern.

In total, Manulife Financial insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

View our latest analysis for Manulife Financial

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Manulife Financial Insiders Are Selling The Stock

We have seen a bit of insider selling at Manulife Financial, over the last three months. insider Kenneth Ross sold just CA$40k worth of shares in that time. It's not great to see insider selling, nor the lack of recent buyers. But the amount sold isn't enough for us to put any weight on it.

Insider Ownership Of Manulife Financial

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Manulife Financial insiders own 0.06% of the company, worth about CA$41m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Manulife Financial Tell Us?

While there has not been any insider buying in the last three months, there has been selling. However, the sales are not big enough to concern us at all. Recent sales exacerbate our caution arising from analysis of Manulife Financial insider transactions. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Manulife Financial.

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For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.