President & Chief Commercial Officer Michael Hartung Sold A Bunch Of Shares In Flex

Some Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the President & Chief Commercial Officer, Michael Hartung, recently sold a substantial US$2.8m worth of stock at a price of US$43.89 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 50% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

See our latest analysis for Flex

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Flex

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the insider, Paul Lundstrom, for US$6.9m worth of shares, at about US$32.84 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$43.16. As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. This single sale was 53% of Paul Lundstrom's stake.

Flex insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, 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 Flex

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. Flex insiders own 0.6% of the company, currently worth about US$102m based on the recent share price. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Flex Insiders?

An insider sold Flex shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. But since Flex is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. 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 1 warning sign for Flex and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Flex may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality 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.