Don't Ignore The Insider Selling In Popular

Some Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Executive VP and Chief Information & Digital Strategy Officer of Innovation, Camille Burckhart, recently sold a substantial US$577k worth of stock at a price of US$97.60 per share. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 17%, which is notable but not too bad.

See our latest analysis for Popular

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Popular

The Executive VP & Chief Risk Officer of Corporate Risk Management Group, Lidio Soriano, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$1.1m worth of shares at a price of US$86.77 each. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$97.34, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. We note that the biggest single sale was only 13% of Lidio Soriano's holding.

Popular insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It's great to see that Popular insiders own 2.0% of the company, worth about US$144m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Popular Insiders?

Insiders sold Popular shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. You'd be interested to know, that we found 3 warning signs for Popular and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Popular may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

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.