Brookline Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRKL) shareholders might have a reason to worry after multiple insiders sold their shares over the last year. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

Brookline Bancorp Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by James Cosman is the biggest insider sale of Brookline Bancorp shares that we've seen in the last year. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$9.28. 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.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 19.00k shares worth US$159k. But they sold 19.50k shares for US$187k. In total, Brookline Bancorp insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. 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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Brookline Bancorp Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Brookline Bancorp shares. In total, Chief Operations Officer James Cosman sold US$155k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.

Insider Ownership

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that Brookline Bancorp insiders own 3.1% of the company, worth about US$26m. 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 Brookline Bancorp Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold Brookline Bancorp shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Despite some insider buying, the longer term picture doesn't make us feel much more positive. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. 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 2 warning signs for Brookline Bancorp 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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