Have Coupang Insiders Been Selling Stock?

Some Coupang, Inc. (NYSE:CPNG) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the General Counsel & Chief Administrative Officer, Harold L. Rogers, recently sold a substantial US$2.1m worth of stock at a price of US$32.06 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 20% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

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Coupang Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by General Counsel & Chief Administrative Officer Harold L. Rogers was not their only sale of Coupang shares this year. Earlier in the year, they fetched US$23.50 per share in a -US$6.4m sale. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$32.41, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent 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 59% of Harold L. Rogers's holding.

Insiders in Coupang didn't buy any shares in 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!

View our latest analysis for Coupang

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Insider Ownership Of Coupang

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Coupang insiders own 8.9% of the company, currently worth about US$5.2b based on the recent share price. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Coupang Tell Us?

Insiders sold Coupang shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. The company boasts high insider ownership, but we're a little hesitant, given the history of share sales. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Coupang and we suggest you have a look.

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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.