Have Insiders Sold United Community Banks Shares Recently?

Anyone interested in United Community Banks, Inc. (NYSE:UCB) should probably be aware that the Executive VP & CFO, Jefferson Harralson, recently divested US$283k worth of shares in the company, at an average price of US$27.75 each. That sale was 24% of their holding, so it does make us raise an eyebrow.

Check out our latest analysis for United Community Banks

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At United Community Banks

Notably, that recent sale by Jefferson Harralson is the biggest insider sale of United Community Banks shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$28.46). 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. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. This single sale was just 24% of Jefferson Harralson's stake.

Jefferson Harralson ditched 10.28k shares over the year. The average price per share was US$27.76. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. 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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Does United Community Banks Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. United Community Banks insiders own about US$22m worth of shares. That equates to 0.6% of the company. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Do The United Community Banks Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold United Community Banks shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We're in no rush to buy! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of United Community Banks.

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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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