Patrick Thomas Sullivan, Senior VP Operations at Sturm Ruger & Co (NYSE:RGR), made a large insider sell on September 1, according to a new SEC filing.

What Happened: A Form 4 filing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday showed that Sullivan sold 5,000 shares of Sturm Ruger & Co at a price of $77.96 per share. The total transaction amounted to $389,800.

Following the transaction, Sullivan still owns 19,062 shares of the company, worth $1,449,855.

Sturm Ruger & Co shares are trading down 3.4% at $76.06 at the time of this writing on Thursday afternoon.

The Importance of Insider Transactions

Insider transactions shouldn't be used primarily to make an investing decision, however an insider transaction can be an important factor in the investing decision.

In legal terms, an "insider" refers to any shareholder who owns at least 10% of a company. This can include executives in the c-suite and large hedge funds. These insiders are required to let the public know of their transactions via a Form 4 filing, which must be filed within two business days of the transaction.

When a company insider makes a new purchase, that is an indication that they expect the stock to rise.

Insider sells, on the other hand, can be made for a variety of reasons, and may not necessarily mean that the seller thinks the stock will go down.

Important Transaction Codes

To get more information on previous transactions, check out the insider's net worth page.