We wouldn't blame Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Ann Kappler, the Executive VP recently netted about US$1.4m selling shares at an average price of US$103. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 37%, which is notable but not too bad.

Prudential Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Senior Advisor, Charles Lowrey, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$5.2m worth of shares at a price of US$107 each. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of US$101. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 1.65k shares for US$169k. But they sold 73.74k shares for US$7.9m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Prudential Financial than they bought, over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

I will like Prudential Financial better if I see some big insider buys.

Does Prudential Financial Boast High Insider Ownership?

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. Prudential Financial insiders own about US$76m worth of shares. That equates to 0.2% of the company. 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 Do The Prudential Financial Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But since Prudential Financial is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. We'd practice some caution before buying! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company.

Of course Prudential 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.

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.