We'd be surprised if Horace Mann Educators Corporation (NYSE:HMN) shareholders haven't noticed that the President, Marita Zuraitis, recently sold US$354k worth of stock at US$47.20 per share. The eyebrow raising move amounted to a reduction of 10% in their holding.
Horace Mann Educators Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Notably, that recent sale by Marita Zuraitis is the biggest insider sale of Horace Mann Educators shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$53.25, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. We note that the biggest single sale was only 10% of Marita Zuraitis's holding.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$157k for 3.68k shares. On the other hand they divested 30.55k shares, for US$1.5m. In total, Horace Mann Educators insiders sold more 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!
See our latest analysis for Horace Mann Educators
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).
Does Horace Mann Educators Boast High Insider Ownership?
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 appears that Horace Mann Educators insiders own 0.5% of the company, worth about US$11m. 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 Horace Mann Educators Insider Transactions Indicate?
Insiders sold Horace Mann Educators shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But since Horace Mann Educators 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. We'd practice some caution before buying! 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. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Horace Mann Educators 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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