How Many The First of Long Island Corporation (NASDAQ:FLIC) Shares Have Insiders Sold, In The Last Year?

It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in The First of Long Island Corporation (NASDAQ:FLIC).

What Is Insider Buying?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise'.

Check out our latest analysis for First of Long Island

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At First of Long Island

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Director, Michael Vittorio, for US$349k worth of shares, at about US$23.27 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$17.30. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$416k for 26.39k shares. But insiders sold 28.99k shares worth US$593k. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of First of Long Island shares, than buying. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

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First of Long Island Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last three months saw significant insider selling at First of Long Island. In total, insiders dumped US$159k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.

Insider Ownership of First of Long Island

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. First of Long Island insiders own about US$22m worth of shares. That equates to 5.3% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About First of Long Island Insiders?

Insiders sold First of Long Island shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Despite some insider buying, the longer term picture doesn't make us feel much more positive. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing First of Long Island. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of First of Long Island.

Of course First of Long Island 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, but not derivative transactions.

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