Insiders selling The usual shorters / bashers / fudsters, in their desperate attempt to grasp at straws, always throw out insiders selling as a scare tactic. Of course they will never show you the whole picture since it does not suit their agenda.
Everybody knows that there could be hundreds of reasons for an insider to sell, that could range from personal and not related to the company, to loosing confidence in the company’s future. But when an insider spends his money to exercise option and increase his position, it’s certainly not because he has lost confidence in the company’s future.
Below is a summary of HPQ’s insiders activity for 2021 and for 2022.
-In 2021, the insiders have increased their total position by 2,115,634 shares.
-In 2022, the insiders have increased their total position by 1,622,000 shares as of today.
| | | | | As of 2022-09-18 |
| Name | 2021 | Increase in position | 2022 | Increase in position |
| Disposition on the market | Exercise of options | Disposition on the market | Exercise of options |
| Drapeau, Nolle | -1,002,716 | 500,000 | -502,716 | -117,000 | 300,000 | 183,000 |
| Hodges, Daryl | -928,000 | 1,100,000 | 172,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Levasseur, Patrick | 0 | 750,000 | 750,000 | -100,000 | 100,000 | 0 |
| Mimeau, Richard | -489,250 | 500,000 | 10,750 | -126,000 | 300,000 | 174,000 |
| Rivard, francois | -150,000 | 700,000 | 550,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robitaille, Robert | -474,000 | 500,000 | 26,000 | 25,000 | 300,000 | 325,000 |
| Smith Henderson, Peter | -150,000 | 500,000 | 350,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tourillon, Bernard J. | 9,600 | 750,000 | 759,600 | 25,000 | 915,000 | 940,000 |
| | | Total : | 2,115,634 | | Total : | 1,622,000 |
Another reason they mention insider selling is to make you believe it is the insiders selling that keeps the share price low.
Below is a summary of HPQ’s insiders selling volume for 2021 and 2022 compared to short selling during the same period.
-In 2021, the insiders selling volume was only .9%, while the short volume was at more than 12% of the total market volume.
-In 2022, the insiders selling volume was only .39%, while the short volume was at more than 5% of the total market volume.
| | Total market volume | Insider selling | Short selling |
| | volume | % | volume | % |
| 2021 | 350,198,279 | 3,159,366 | 0.90 | 43,315,984 | 12.37 |
| 2022 | 82,561,284 | 318,000 | 0.39 | 4,630,378 | 5.61 |