Portland General Electric Insiders Sell US$2.9m Of Stock, Possibly Signalling Caution

The fact that multiple Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) insiders offloaded a considerable amount of shares over the past year could have raised some eyebrows amongst investors. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more beneficial than knowing whether they are selling, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

See our latest analysis for Portland General Electric

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Portland General Electric

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the President, Maria Pope, sold US$2.0m worth of shares at a price of US$44.75 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$47.83, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. We note that the biggest single sale was only 22% of Maria Pope's holding.

In the last year Portland General Electric insiders didn't buy any company stock. 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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Portland General Electric Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last three months saw significant insider selling at Portland General Electric. In total, insiders sold US$484k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.

Does Portland General Electric Boast High Insider Ownership?

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. Portland General Electric insiders own about US$28m worth of shares. That equates to 0.6% of the company. 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 Do The Portland General Electric Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders haven't bought Portland General Electric stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But it is good to see that Portland General Electric is growing earnings. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. We'd practice some caution before buying! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Our analysis shows 3 warning signs for Portland General Electric (1 is significant!) and we strongly recommend you look at these before investing.

Of course Portland General Electric 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.