undamentalytics Newsletter
Sign in

Mehta Rajeev: insider trades

Chief executive, Officer at Cognizant. No open-market purchases and 11 sales not made under a pre-set plan, reported from December 11, 2012 to March 19, 2019.

What happened after Mehta Rajeev’s sales?

After their sales, the shares moved −12.2% against the index over 12 months on average (a negative figure means selling was the right call); 82% 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

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 11 −7.8% −7.8% 91% 6 −2.15 0.085 No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the report 11 −12.2% −11.6% 82% 6 −1.72 0.15 No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the trade 11 −12.9% −12.8% 82% 6 −1.65 0.16 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
Cognizant CTSH President011December 11, 2012March 19, 2019

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 19, 2019March 15, 2019 CTSH Sale $1,408,336 −16.5%−21.0%−25.3%
March 15, 2019March 13, 2019 CTSH Sale $1,430,000 −15.2%−20.2%−20.2%
March 11, 2019March 7, 2019 CTSH Sale $725,000 −15.2%−25.0%−28.6%
August 14, 2018August 10, 2018 CTSH Sale $1,687,051 −3.4%−21.4%−22.7%
March 13, 2018March 9, 2018 CTSH Sale $380,617 −7.9%−17.4%−16.5%
September 14, 2017September 12, 2017 CTSH Sale $2,498,071 −6.4%−10.9%−12.8%
September 13, 2017September 11, 2017 CTSH Sale $2,304,540 −7.8%−11.1%−11.0%
September 6, 2017September 1, 2017 CTSH Sale $2,272,640 −6.8%−11.6%−11.3%
February 26, 2014February 24, 2014 CTSH Sale $4,462,316 −9.1%+5.5%+3.0%
November 14, 2013November 12, 2013 CTSH Sale $6,980,535 +3.8%−3.3%−1.3%
December 11, 2012December 7, 2012 CTSH Sale $7,008,000 −1.3%+2.3%+4.6%

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