The fact that multiple Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ:VLY) insiders offloaded a considerable amount of shares over the past year could have raised some eyebrows amongst investors. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more beneficial than knowing whether they are selling, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Valley National Bancorp Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Senior Executive Vice President of Commercial Banking, Joseph Chillura, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$864k worth of shares at a price of US$8.64 each. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$6.99). So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Valley National Bancorp shares, than buying. The sellers received a price of around US$8.55, on average. Insider selling doesn't make us excited to buy. But we note that the selling, on average, was at well above the recently traded price of US$6.99. 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!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of small cap stocks that are not only being bought by insiders but also have attractive valuations.

Insiders At Valley National Bancorp Have Sold Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen notably more insider selling, than insider buying, at Valley National Bancorp. In total, insiders sold US$378k worth of shares in that time. On the flip side, Independent Director Sidney Williams spent US$5.0k on purchasing shares. Since the selling really does outweigh the buying, we'd say that these transactions may suggest that some insiders feel the shares are not cheap.

Insider Ownership Of Valley National Bancorp

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 1.4% of Valley National Bancorp shares, worth about US$49m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Valley National Bancorp Tell Us?

The insider sales have outweighed the insider buying, at Valley National Bancorp, in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We'd practice some caution before buying! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Valley National Bancorp. While conducting our analysis, we found that Valley National Bancorp has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

But note: Valley National Bancorp may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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.

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