How Many Insiders Sold Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT) Shares?

Rowena Monahan - finance.yahoo.com Posted 5 years ago
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It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. On the other hand, we’d be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So before you buy or sell Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (NYSE:HVT), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

Do Insider Transactions Matter?

Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

We don’t think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Harvard University study found that ‘insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.’

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Haverty Furniture Companies Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by Executive Vice President of Operations Steven Burdette for US$128k worth of shares, at about US$21.37 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$20.03. They might be selling for a variety of reasons, but it’s hard to argue this is a bullish sign. We generally tread carefully if insiders have been selling on market, even if they sold slightly above the current price.

All up, insiders sold more shares in Haverty Furniture Companies than they bought, over the last year. The sellers received a price of around US$21.19, on average. We don’t gain much confidence from insider selling near the recent share price. But we don’t put too much weight on the insider selling, since sellers could have personal reasons. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

NYSE:HVT Insider Trading January 31st 19
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For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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. Insiders own 4.1% of Haverty Furniture Companies shares, worth about US$17m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Haverty Furniture Companies Insiders?

The fact that there have been no Haverty Furniture Companies insider transactions recently certainly doesn’t bother us. Still, the insider transactions at Haverty Furniture Companies in the last 12 months are not very heartening. The modest level of insider ownership is, at least, some comfort. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Haverty Furniture Companies.

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But note: Haverty Furniture Companies 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.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at [email protected].