undamentalytics Newsletter

Alias Patrick: insider trades

Director at Cognex Corp. No open-market purchases and 25 sales not made under a pre-set plan, reported from November 4, 2010 to March 7, 2023.

What happened after Alias Patrick’s sales?

After their sales, the shares moved +10.3% against the index over 12 months on average (a negative figure means selling was the right call); 44% 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

Alias Patrick: trades against the S&P 500 afterwards
MeasuredTrades countedAverage vs S&P 500MedianWent the right wayYearst-statisticp-valueEvidence
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 25 +1.0% +2.4% 40% 12 −0.70 0.50 No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the report 25 +10.3% +5.3% 44% 12 0.09 0.93 No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the trade 25 +9.9% −1.3% 52% 12 0.25 0.80 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

CompanyTitle on the latest filingPurchasesSalesFirst reportLatest report
Cognex Corp CGNX —025November 4, 2010March 7, 2023

Trades and what followed

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

ReportedTradedCompanyTradeValue3 months after report12 months after report12 months after trade
March 7, 2023March 3, 2023 CGNX Sale $246,394 +7.6%−45.5%−45.5%
August 26, 2021August 24, 2021 CGNX Sale $1,525,825 −16.8%−40.9%−43.2%
February 17, 2021February 16, 2021 CGNX Sale $1,847,600 −16.7%−40.8%−43.3%
December 11, 2020December 9, 2020 CGNX Sale $1,171,500 −2.4%−31.7%−26.4%
November 5, 2020November 4, 2020 CGNX Sale $727,100 +14.5%−19.3%−8.4%
September 3, 2020September 2, 2020 CGNX Sale $698,400 +12.7%+9.3%−1.3%
June 9, 2020June 8, 2020 CGNX Sale $868,350 +0.5%+5.3%+2.6%
February 21, 2020February 19, 2020 CGNX Sale $526,300 +34.4%+53.1%+51.5%
October 31, 2019October 30, 2019 CGNX Sale $511,000 −3.8%+19.7%+20.1%
February 26, 2019February 26, 2019 CGNX Sale $531,000 −22.8%−25.7%−26.5%
November 28, 2017November 27, 2017 CGNX Sale $717,700 −24.8%−43.6%−47.8%
September 13, 2017September 12, 2017 CGNX Sale $556,550 +5.5%−18.0%−19.1%
March 1, 2017February 28, 2017 CGNX Sale $389,250 +15.1%+19.0%+23.2%
November 9, 2016November 8, 2016 CGNX Sale $540,700 +22.0%+132.4%+124.2%
August 5, 2016August 4, 2016 CGNX Sale $363,525 +7.2%+94.2%+89.9%
June 10, 2016June 9, 2016 CGNX Sale $334,425 +7.4%+88.6%+93.9%
June 12, 2015June 11, 2015 CGNX Sale $371,325 −19.0%−15.9%−12.4%
August 27, 2014August 25, 2014 CGNX Sale $324,000 −5.4%−16.7%−17.9%
August 30, 2013March 12, 2012 CGNX Sale $509,692 +2.4%+24.9%−14.9%
August 12, 2013February 13, 2013 CGNX Sale $502,095 +6.3%+32.6%+66.8%
February 15, 2013February 13, 2013 CGNX Sale $316,200 −0.3%+58.8%+66.8%
March 14, 2012March 12, 2012 CGNX Sale $317,250 −19.6%−14.5%−14.9%
May 9, 2011May 6, 2011 CGNX Sale $513,482 +2.2%+0.7%+1.3%
November 5, 2010November 4, 2010 CGNX Sale $783,096 +8.8%+15.2%+16.4%
November 4, 2010November 3, 2010 CGNX Sale $112,016 +9.9%+15.8%+13.1%

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 Alias Patrick traded and do not suggest the use of non-public information. How every insider compares · the insider trading backtest.