Chief Legal Officer Of Blackstone Sold 25% Of Their Shares

Some Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Chief Legal Officer, John Finley, recently sold a substantial US$3.5m worth of stock at a price of US$138 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 25% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

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Blackstone Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Chief Legal Officer John Finley was not their only sale of Blackstone shares this year. Earlier in the year, they fetched US$176 per share in a -US$7.4m sale. 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$139. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Blackstone shares, than buying. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. 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 Blackstone

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Does Blackstone 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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Blackstone insiders own about US$497m worth of shares (which is 0.3% of the company). Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Blackstone Insiders?

The insider sales have outweighed the insider buying, at Blackstone, in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But it is good to see that Blackstone is growing earnings. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. While it's good to be aware of what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. Be aware that Blackstone is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is concerning...

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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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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.