We note that the Chemung Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CHMG) Executive VP & Chief Information Officer, Loren Cole, recently sold US$51k worth of stock for US$51.21 per share. However we note that the sale only shrunk their holding by 8.5%.

Chemung Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Loren Cole is the biggest insider sale of Chemung Financial 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$50.70. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$32k for 735.00 shares. On the other hand they divested 2.19k shares, for US$103k. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Chemung Financial shares, than buying. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

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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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 19% of Chemung Financial shares, worth about US$46m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The Chemung Financial Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold Chemung Financial shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We're in no rush to buy! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Chemung Financial. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for Chemung Financial and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Chemung Financial may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

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.