We wouldn't blame Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Dominic Frederico, the Deputy Chairman recently netted about US$2.5m selling shares at an average price of US$80.01. However, it's crucial to note that they remain very much invested in the stock and that sale only reduced their holding by 1.9%.
Assured Guaranty Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In fact, the recent sale by Deputy Chairman Dominic Frederico was not their only sale of Assured Guaranty shares this year. They previously made an even bigger sale of -US$5.1m worth of shares at a price of US$92.83 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$77.93. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.
Assured Guaranty insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. 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 Assured Guaranty
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. Assured Guaranty insiders own about US$225m worth of shares (which is 5.5% of the company). 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 Do The Assured Guaranty Insider Transactions Indicate?
An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. On the plus side, Assured Guaranty makes money, and is growing profits. 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. 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. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Assured Guaranty (of which 1 doesn't sit too well with us!) you should know about.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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.