Mark Michael: insider trades

Director at Progress Software Corp. No open-market purchases and 10 sales not made under a pre-set plan, reported from December 28, 2010 to April 23, 2018.

What happened after Mark Michael’s sales?

After their sales, the shares moved −5.7% against the index over 12 months on average (a negative figure means selling was the right call); 60% trailed it.

With 296 insiders tested, some will look skilled or unskilled by chance alone: when we replaced each insider’s stocks with random companies bought on the same days, about 5.7 cleared the bar ahead and 23.3 behind. One record on its own proves little.

Trade by trade

Mark Michael: trades against the S&P 500 afterwards
Measured	Trades counted	Average vs S&P 500	Median	Went the right way	Years	t-statistic	p-value	Evidence
Purchases, 3 months after the report	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not enough years
Purchases, 6 months after the report	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not enough years
Purchases, 12 months after the report	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not enough years
Purchases, 12 months after the trade	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not enough years
Sales, 3 months after the report	10	−3.2%	−1.3%	60%	7	−1.55	0.17	No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the report	10	−5.7%	−2.2%	60%	7	−1.26	0.25	No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the trade	10	−6.8%	−1.4%	60%	7	−1.50	0.18	No reliable evidence

“Average vs S&P 500” is the stock’s return including dividends minus the index’s over the same dates, from the close on the first trading day after the report, or from the close on the trade date. Only windows that have finished are counted. For sales, a negative figure means the stock lagged after it was sold, so selling was the right call (green). “Went the right way” is the share of purchases that beat the index, or of sales that trailed it. The t-statistic uses one average per year of reports, because one person’s trades bunch into the same stock and weeks, and needs trades in at least four different years; the p-value comes from the t distribution with that number of years (with four years, a t of 2 has p = 0.14). “Some evidence” means p under 5%, “strong evidence” p under 1% over at least six years.

Companies traded

Company	Title on the latest filing	Purchases	Sales	First report	Latest report
Progress Software Corp PRGS	—	0	10	December 28, 2010	April 23, 2018

Trades and what followed

Moves are against the S&P 500; green means the trade went the insider’s way.

Reported	Traded	Company	Trade	Value	3 months after report	12 months after report	12 months after trade
April 23, 2018	April 19, 2018	PRGS	Sale	$492,880	−1.4%	+10.6%	+8.2%
April 29, 2016	April 28, 2016	PRGS	Sale	$201,332	+7.7%	+0.1%	−0.8%
April 15, 2016	April 13, 2016	PRGS	Sale	$214,549	+5.6%	−1.2%	+1.8%
July 8, 2015	July 6, 2015	PRGS	Sale	$492,981	−17.6%	−10.0%	−11.3%
February 9, 2015	February 5, 2015	PRGS	Sale	$273,916	−1.2%	−3.2%	−2.1%
July 23, 2014	July 21, 2014	PRGS	Sale	$339,492	+6.6%	+16.4%	+16.3%
July 1, 2014	June 30, 2014	PRGS	Sale	$205,628	+0.8%	+17.4%	+7.1%
October 1, 2013	September 27, 2013	PRGS	Sale	$315,360	−10.1%	−23.5%	−25.4%
April 4, 2011	March 31, 2011	PRGS	Sale	$582,080	−16.1%	−28.3%	−27.2%
December 28, 2010	December 23, 2010	PRGS	Sale	$868,151	−6.6%	−35.7%	−34.8%

Open-market purchases and sales of at least $10,000 in companies we cover, from SEC Form 4 filings; sales made under a pre-set Rule 10b5-1 plan are not shown. “Not yet” means the window has not finished or the share price was under $5 at entry. These are the shares’ moves after each trade: they say nothing about why Mark Michael traded and do not suggest the use of non-public information. How every insider compares · the insider trading backtest.