Many Univest Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:UVSP) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company's shareholders. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying versus if they selling is usually more beneficial, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

Check out our latest analysis for Univest Financial

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Univest Financial

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Independent Director, Todd Benning, for US$770k worth of shares, at about US$28.00 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$21.91. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 8.02k shares for US$147k. But they sold 27.50k shares for US$770k. All up, insiders sold more shares in Univest Financial than they bought, over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

I will like Univest Financial better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insiders At Univest Financial Have Bought Stock Recently

There was some insider buying at Univest Financial over the last quarter. In that period Independent Director Natalye Paquin spent US$15k on shares. However, Vice Chairman Jeffrey Schweitzer netted US$12.9 for sales. It is nice to see that insiders have bought, but the quantum isn't large enough to get us excited.

Does Univest Financial Boast High 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. Univest Financial insiders own about US$11m worth of shares. That equates to 1.7% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Univest Financial Tell Us?

We note a that there has been a bit of insider buying recently (but no selling). That said, the purchases were not large. Recent insider selling makes us a little nervous, in light of the broader picture of Univest Financial insider transactions. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Univest Financial you should know about.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.