This Insider Has Just Sold Shares In Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRCY)

We'd be surprised if Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRCY) shareholders haven't noticed that an insider, Michael Ruppert, recently sold US$150k worth of stock at US$54.14 per share. However, the silver lining is that the sale only reduced their total holding by 1.3%, so we're hesitant to read anything much into it, on its own.

See our latest analysis for Mercury Systems

Mercury Systems Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The President, Mark Aslett, 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$51.52 each. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$53.63). As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. 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 3.9% of Mark Aslett's holding.

In total, Mercury Systems insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

I will like Mercury Systems better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership Of Mercury Systems

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that Mercury Systems insiders own 2.2% of the company, worth about US$68m. 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 Mercury Systems Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. 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 Mercury Systems. While conducting our analysis, we found that Mercury Systems has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore them.

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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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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.