Elon Musk Trades $1B In Tesla Stock

Elon Musk, CEO at Tesla TSLA, made a large insider sell on November 12, according to a new SEC filing.

What Happened: A Form 4 filing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday showed that Musk sold 1,200,000 shares of Tesla at prices ranging from $1,021 to $1,045. The total transaction amounted to $1,235,607,329.

Following the transaction, Musk still owns 166,285,682 shares of Tesla worth $165,745,253,533.

Tesla shares are trading down 3.57% at $996.75 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 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.

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 Tesla's Insider Trades.

This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.