Some Axos Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AX) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Executive Vice President of Finance, Andrew Micheletti, recently sold a substantial US$2.8m worth of stock at a price of US$62.44 per share. However, it's crucial to note that they remain very much invested in the stock and that sale only reduced their holding by 9.6%.

Axos Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Andrew Micheletti was the biggest sale of Axos Financial shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of US$61.64. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. We note that this sale took place at around the current price, so it isn't a major concern, though it's hardly a good sign.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 20.00k shares worth US$844k. But insiders sold 106.70k shares worth US$6.0m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Axos Financial shares, than buying. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart 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 Of Axos Financial

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It's great to see that Axos Financial insiders own 10% of the company, worth about US$353m. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Axos Financial Tell Us?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But it is good to see that Axos Financial is growing earnings. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. To help with this, we've discovered 2 warning signs (1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in Axos Financial.

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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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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.