5 Stocks Insiders Are Selling: Tesla, Snap And More

European stocks tumbled more than 1% on Friday, following a sharp decline in tech and growth stocks. Investors, meanwhile, focused on some notable insider trades.

When insiders sell shares, it indicates their concern in the company’s prospects or that they view the stock as being overpriced. Either way, this signals an opportunity to go short on the stock. Insider sales should not be taken as the only indicator for making an investment or trading decision. At best, it can lend conviction to a selling decision.

Below is a look at a few recent notable insider sales. For more, check out Benzinga's insider transactions platform.

Tesla

• The Trade: Tesla, Inc. TSLA Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn disposed a total of 1,250 shares at an average price of $1,026.75. The insider received $1,283,437.50 as a result of the transaction.
• What’s Happening: U.S. District Judge William Orrick said on Wednesday that the order to pay $137 million in damages by a federal jury for subjecting a former black Tesla employee to racism at work was extremely high, Bloomberg News reported.
• What Tesla Does: Founded in 2003 and based in Palo Alto, California, Tesla is a vertically integrated sustainable energy company that also aims to transition the world to electric mobility by making electric vehicles.

Alphabet

• The Trade: Alphabet Inc. GOOG CEO Sundar Pichai sold a total of 3,000 shares at an average price of $2,743.69. The insider received $8,231,064.21 from selling those shares.
• What’s Happening: NCR reported a partnership with Google Cloud to boost cloud-driven transformation in retail.
• What Alphabet Does: Alphabet is a holding company, with Google, the Internet media giant, as a wholly owned subsidiary.

Snap

• The Trade: Snap Inc. SNAP Chief Business Officer Jeremi Gorman sold a total of 42,881 shares at an average price of $35.96. The insider received $1,542,142.30 as a result of the transaction.
• What’s Happening: Cowen, last week, downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform.
• What Snap Does: Snap, which refers to itself as a camera company, has one of the most popular social networking apps, Snapchat, in developed regions such as North America and Europe.

VeriSign

• The Trade: VeriSign, Inc. VRSN Executive Chairman and CEO D. James Bidzos sold a total of 8,000 shares at an average price of $220.63. The insider received $1,765,060.67 from selling those shares.
• What’s Happening: VeriSign is expected to report Q4 results on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022.
• What VeriSign Does: Verisign is the sole authorized registry for several generic top-level domains, including the widely utilized .com and .net top-level domains.

Nikola

• The Trade: Nikola Corporation NKLA President, Energy and Commercial Pablo Koziner sold a total of 50,579 shares at an average price of $9.89. The insider received $500,327.47 from selling those shares.
• What’s Happening: Nikola signed an agreement with leasing and financing solutions provider Corcentric Fleet Funding Solutions to facilitate sales of Class 8 Nikola Tre battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and Nikola Tre hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).
• What Nikola Does: Nikola Corp is a designer and manufacturer of battery-electric and hydrogen-electric vehicles, electric vehicle drivetrains, vehicle components, energy storage systems, and hydrogen fueling station infrastructure.