Have First United Insiders Been Selling Stock?

Investors may wish to note that the Independent Director of First United Corporation, Irvin Rudy, recently netted US$75k from selling stock, receiving an average price of US$37.35. However we note that the sale only shrunk their holding by 5.1%.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At First United

In fact, the recent sale by Irvin Rudy was the biggest sale of First United shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$37.28. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$40k for 1.26k shares. But insiders sold 2.00k shares worth US$75k. 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 First United

I will like First United better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Does First United Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 8.1% of First United shares, worth about US$20m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The First United Insider Transactions Indicate?

The stark truth for First United is that there has been more insider selling than insider buying in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But it is good to see that First United is growing earnings. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. 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 United. While conducting our analysis, we found that First United has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.

Of course First United 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.