Shares Owned By Insiders

First, you want to understand if the executive members of the company have their best interest aligned with the company. An example is that the CEO may own 45% of the shares, which would mean that he or she has a stake in the company and wants the company to succeed, which is in the best interest of everyone. Conversely, if the CEO only maintains a 10% stake, it may not be in their best interest what the company does and could have other interest then that of raising the share price. Secondly, you want to see how the movement of shares are and if people inside the company have been selling the stock, that could indicate there are internal issues that outsiders may not know about or may ever know, but it raises a red flag for you to pay attention.

When looking at stocks and the companies behind them, many of us take a look at items such as shares shorted, current price, and other data points to help formulate an opinion. One area many don’t consider and that is the amount of shares owned by insiders, and this is just as important as any other data. An insider is an employee or executive of the company, and why it is important to know how much they own is as follows.