Director Of Essex Property Trust Trades $4.11 Million In Company Stock

Thomas Robinson, Director at Essex Property Trust ESS, made a large buy and sell of company shares on September 9, according to a new SEC filing.

What Happened: A Form 4 filing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission states that Thomas Robinson purchased 7,329 Essex Property Trust shares at a price of $229.90 per share for a total of $1,684,937 on September 9. They then sold their shares on the same day in the open market. They sold at prices ranging from $330.73 to $331.22 to raise a total of $2,424,135 from the stock sale.

Following the transaction, Robinson still owns 4,545 shares of the company, worth $1,487,033.

Essex Property Trust shares are trading up 1.63% at $327.18 at the time of this writing on Monday morning.

The Importance of Insider Transactions

Insider transactions shouldn't be used primarily to make an investing 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 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.

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.

Check Out The Full List Of Essex Property Trust's Insider Trades.