Insiders Selling at Record Pace
September 26th, 2018Via: CBS:
Corporate insiders are dumping stock in their companies at a rate not seen in 10 years.
With September not yet over, stock sales by company executives reached $5.7 billion, according to data from TrimTabs Investment Research — the highest September in a decade. August’s $10.3 billion in insider sales also reached a 10-year record.
At the same time, stock buybacks are roaring ahead, pumping up U.S. share prices to new heights. Companies this year have announced $827 billion in spending to purchase their own shares — well above the buybacks that took place during all of 2007, which set the previous annual record.
“Insiders have been committing lots of money for stock buybacks, and they’re not doing buybacks because they think stocks are cheap. They’re doing to it to pump up the stock so they can sell it,” said David Santschi, director of liquidity research at TrimTabs.
