Have Ally Financial Insiders Been Selling Stock?

Some Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Chief Human Resources Officer, Kathleen Patterson, recently sold a substantial US$1.2m worth of stock at a price of US$40.86 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 22% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

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Ally Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Kathleen Patterson is the biggest insider sale of Ally Financial shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that even when the share price was slightly below the current price of US$41.29, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. 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. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. It is worth noting that this sale was only 22% of Kathleen Patterson's holding.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 52.93k shares for US$2.0m. But they sold 37.00k shares for US$1.4m. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Ally Financial insiders. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

See our latest analysis for Ally Financial

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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. It appears that Ally Financial insiders own 0.5% of the company, worth about US$70m. 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 Does This Data Suggest About Ally Financial Insiders?

An insider hasn't bought Ally Financial stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. But we take heart from prior transactions. And insiders do own shares. So we're not overly bothered by recent selling. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Ally Financial. To assist with this, we've discovered 4 warning signs that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Ally Financial.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.