This Insider Has Just Sold Shares In First Financial Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIN)

Some First Financial Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIN) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Lead Independent Director, Tucker Bridwell, recently sold a substantial US$852k worth of stock at a price of US$42.61 per share. However, that sale only accounted for 6.7% of their holding, so arguably it doesn't say much about their conviction.

Check out our latest analysis for First Financial Bankshares

First Financial Bankshares Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Lead Independent Director Tucker Bridwell was not their only sale of First Financial Bankshares shares this year. They previously made an even bigger sale of -US$1.1m worth of shares at a price of US$27.69 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$42.43, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. It is worth noting that this sale was only 9.6% of Tucker Bridwell's holding.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$2.4m for 95.28k shares. But they sold 163.21k shares for US$5.0m. In total, First Financial Bankshares 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 want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

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Insider Ownership of First Financial Bankshares

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. First Financial Bankshares insiders own about US$261m worth of shares (which is 4.4% of the company). Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At First Financial Bankshares Tell Us?

The insider sales have outweighed the insider buying, at First Financial Bankshares, in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But since First Financial Bankshares is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. 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. When we did our research, we found 3 warning signs for First Financial Bankshares (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

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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, but not derivative transactions.

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