Possible Bearish Signals With CNA Financial Insiders Disposing Stock

In the last year, many CNA Financial Corporation (NYSE:CNA) insiders sold a substantial stake in the company which may have sparked shareholders' attention. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Check out our latest analysis for CNA Financial

CNA Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Executive VP & Chief Human Resources Officer, Elizabeth Aguinaga, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$1.3m worth of shares at a price of US$49.60 each. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$48.11. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. 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).

CNA Financial insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart 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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Insider Ownership Of CNA Financial

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that CNA Financial insiders own 0.5% of the company, worth about US$67m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About CNA Financial Insiders?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded CNA Financial shares in the last quarter. Still, the insider transactions at CNA Financial in the last 12 months are not very heartening. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. 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. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for CNA Financial and we suggest you have a look.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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.