Some Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that insider Geoffrey Greener recently sold a substantial US$6.7m worth of stock at a price of US$53.01 per share. However, that sale only accounted for 8.4% of their holding, so arguably it doesn't say much about their conviction.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Bank of America

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Co-President, Dean Athanasia, sold US$6.9m worth of shares at a price of US$50.21 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$51.31. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. 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 20% of Dean Athanasia's holding.

Bank of America 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!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Insider Ownership Of Bank of America

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It's great to see that Bank of America insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about US$589m. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Bank of America Insiders?

Insiders sold Bank of America shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But since Bank of America is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. 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 Bank of America has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.

But note: Bank of America may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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.

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.