We'd be surprised if Byline Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:BY) shareholders haven't noticed that the President of Small Business Capital, Thomas Abraham, recently sold US$192k worth of stock at US$28.86 per share. However, the silver lining is that the sale only reduced their total holding by 9.7%, so we're hesitant to read anything much into it, on its own.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Byline Bancorp

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the President & Director, Alberto Paracchini, for US$305k worth of shares, at about US$30.51 per share. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$28.16. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. We note that this sale took place at around the current price, so it isn't a major concern, though it's hardly a good sign.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 14.32k shares worth US$318k. But they sold 46.73k shares for US$1.3m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Byline Bancorp than they bought, over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

I will like Byline Bancorp 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.

Insider Ownership Of Byline Bancorp

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It's great to see that Byline Bancorp insiders own 33% of the company, worth about US$419m. 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 Byline Bancorp Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider hasn't bought Byline Bancorp 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 Byline Bancorp is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. The company boasts high insider ownership, but we're a little hesitant, given the history of share sales. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Byline Bancorp. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Byline Bancorp.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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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