Some Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (NYSE:AGM) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the President & CEO, Bradford Nordholm, recently sold a substantial US$1.1m worth of stock at a price of US$213 per share. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 30%, which is notable but not too bad.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Bradford Nordholm was the biggest sale of Federal Agricultural Mortgage shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of US$214. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 555.97 shares for US$70k. But insiders sold 15.58k shares worth US$3.2m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Federal Agricultural Mortgage shares, than buying. The average sell price was around US$206. We don't gain confidence from insider selling below the recent share price. Since insiders sell for many reasons, we wouldn't put too much weight on it. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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Insider Ownership Of Federal Agricultural Mortgage

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 1.4% of Federal Agricultural Mortgage shares, worth about US$32m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Federal Agricultural Mortgage Tell Us?

Insiders haven't bought Federal Agricultural Mortgage stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But since Federal Agricultural Mortgage is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. 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 2 warning signs for Federal Agricultural Mortgage (1 is concerning!) and we strongly recommend you look at these before investing.

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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.