Anyone interested in Nathan's Famous, Inc. (NASDAQ:NATH) should probably be aware that the Independent Director, Brian Genson, recently divested US$135k worth of shares in the company, at an average price of US$67.75 each. That sale was 15% of their holding, so it does make us raise an eyebrow.

See our latest analysis for Nathan's Famous

Nathan's Famous Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Independent Director Brian Genson was not the only time they sold Nathan's Famous shares this year. They previously made an even bigger sale of -US$146k worth of shares at a price of US$73.50 per share. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of US$71.63. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern.

Brian Genson sold a total of 4.00k shares over the year at an average price of US$70.38. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Nathan's Famous insiders own 31% of the company, worth about US$90m. 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 Nathan's Famous Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold Nathan's Famous shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. But it is good to see that Nathan's Famous is growing earnings. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. 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 4 warning signs for Nathan's Famous you should know about.

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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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