President And CEO Of Denali Therapeutics Sold $1.00 Million In Stock

Ryan Watts, President and CEO at Denali Therapeutics DNLI, 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 Watts sold 18,333 shares of Denali Therapeutics at a price of $54.59 per share. The total transaction amounted to $1,002,012.

They still own a total of 2,310,058 of Denali Therapeutics worth, $126,826,804.

Denali Therapeutics shares are trading down 1.91% at $54.9 at the time of this writing on Friday morning.

Why Insider Transactions Are Important

Insider transactions shouldn't be used primarily to make an investment decision, however, they can be an important factor for an investor to consider.

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 sales, 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.

Transaction Codes To Focus On

Investors prefer focusing on transactions that take place in the open market, indicated in Table I of the Form 4 filing. A P in Box 3 indicates a purchase, while S indicates a sale. Transaction code C indicates the conversion of an option, and transaction code A indicates the insider may have been forced to sell shares in order to receive compensation that had been promised upon being hired by the company.

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