We wouldn't blame Jackson Financial Inc. (NYSE:JXN) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Devkumar Ganguly, the Executive VP & COO recently netted about US$1.1m selling shares at an average price of US$111. That sale reduced their total holding by 11% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Jackson Financial

Notably, that recent sale by Devkumar Ganguly is the biggest insider sale of Jackson Financial shares that we've seen in the last year. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$100). So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 7.03k shares worth US$459k. But insiders sold 28.50k shares worth US$2.6m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Jackson Financial than they bought, over the last year. They sold for an average price of about US$91.11. We don't gain confidence from insider selling below the recent share price. But we wouldn't put too much weight on the insider selling. 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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Does Jackson Financial Boast High Insider Ownership?

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It's great to see that Jackson Financial insiders own 2.0% of the company, worth about US$157m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Jackson Financial Tell Us?

Insiders sold Jackson Financial 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 a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about 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. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Jackson Financial and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Jackson 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.