Yahoo Finance Possible Bearish Signals With Ameriprise Financial Insiders Disposing Stock
Over the past year, many Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) insiders sold a significant stake in the company which may have piqued investors' interest. When analyzing insider transactions, it is usually more valuable to know whether insiders are buying versus knowing if they are selling, as the latter sends an ambiguous message. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.
Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.
Check out our latest analysis for Ameriprise Financial
Ameriprise Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Chairman & CEO, James Cracchiolo, for US$8.9m worth of shares, at about US$409 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$435, 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. 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. We note that the biggest single sale was only 12% of James Cracchiolo's holding.
Ameriprise 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!
I will like Ameriprise Financial better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.
Insiders At Ameriprise Financial Have Sold Stock Recently
The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Ameriprise Financial shares. In total, Executive VP & Global Chief Investment Officer William Davies dumped US$3.8m 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.
Insider Ownership Of Ameriprise Financial
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 0.2% of Ameriprise Financial shares, worth about US$75m. 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 Ameriprise Financial Insiders?
An insider sold Ameriprise Financial shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. But it is good to see that Ameriprise Financial is growing earnings. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We're in no rush to buy! 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. While conducting our analysis, we found that Ameriprise Financial has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.
Of course Ameriprise Financial 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.
