Have Insiders Sold CNA Financial Shares Recently?

Some CNA Financial Corporation (NYSE:CNA) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Executive VP & CFO, Scott Lindquist, recently sold a substantial US$899k worth of stock at a price of US$48.89 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 18% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

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CNA Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the President, Douglas Worman, sold US$1.1m worth of shares at a price of US$48.75 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$48.01. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

Over the last year we saw more insider selling of CNA Financial shares, than buying. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

See our latest analysis for CNA Financial

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Does CNA Financial Boast High Insider Ownership?

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 0.6% of CNA Financial shares, worth about US$72m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At CNA Financial Tell Us?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for CNA Financial you should be aware of.

But note: CNA Financial may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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.