Independent Director William Tudor Brown Sold A Bunch Of Shares In Marvell Technology

Some Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Independent Director, William Tudor Brown, recently sold a substantial US$1.2m worth of stock at a price of US$121 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 26% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

View our latest analysis for Marvell Technology

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Marvell Technology

The President of Products & Technologies, Muhammad Hussain, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$12m worth of shares at a price of US$80.50 each. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$105). 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. This single sale was just 16% of Muhammad Hussain's stake.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$1.1m for 14.43k shares. But they sold 277.51k shares for US$22m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Marvell Technology than they bought, 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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Does Marvell Technology Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by 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. Marvell Technology insiders own about US$339m worth of shares (which is 0.3% of the company). I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Marvell Technology Tell Us?

The stark truth for Marvell Technology is that there has been more insider selling than insider buying in the last three months. Despite some insider buying, the longer term picture doesn't make us feel much more positive. 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. While conducting our analysis, we found that Marvell Technology has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

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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.