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Krishnaswamy Venkat: insider trades

Officer at Cognizant. No open-market purchases and 16 sales not made under a pre-set plan, reported from December 11, 2013 to March 19, 2019.

What happened after Krishnaswamy Venkat’s sales?

After their sales, the shares moved −4.8% against the index over 12 months on average (a negative figure means selling was the right call); 81% 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 16 −1.1% +1.9% 44% 6 −1.24 0.27 No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the report 16 −4.8% −4.9% 81% 6 −0.71 0.51 No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the trade 16 −4.8% −5.7% 75% 6 −0.97 0.38 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 Vice Chair Healthcare&Life Sc016December 11, 2013March 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 $216,254 −16.5%−21.0%−25.3%
February 21, 2018February 16, 2018 CTSH Sale $270,417 −8.4%−15.8%−13.4%
February 16, 2018February 14, 2018 CTSH Sale $316,000 −7.8%−15.5%−11.7%
February 14, 2018February 12, 2018 CTSH Sale $310,000 −6.7%−12.8%−9.6%
November 8, 2017November 6, 2017 CTSH Sale $300,000 +1.6%−13.5%−14.2%
August 15, 2017August 11, 2017 CTSH Sale $578,185 −0.6%−12.0%−9.9%
June 6, 2017June 5, 2017 CTSH Sale $271,000 +4.3%−0.4%+0.2%
May 30, 2017May 25, 2017 CTSH Sale $280,684 +2.4%−0.7%−0.4%
May 23, 2017May 19, 2017 CTSH Sale $302,479 +3.4%−0.3%0.0%
May 12, 2017May 10, 2017 CTSH Sale $412,998 +8.6%+3.1%+4.2%
March 15, 2017March 13, 2017 CTSH Sale $547,278 +9.3%+26.0%+24.1%
November 12, 2015November 10, 2015 CTSH Sale $271,200 −9.9%−27.4%−28.1%
February 23, 2015February 20, 2015 CTSH Sale $125,000 +2.3%−3.1%−4.3%
February 17, 2015February 13, 2015 CTSH Sale $127,058 +4.6%−1.6%−1.0%
June 11, 2014June 9, 2014 CTSH Sale $150,750 −8.1%+24.8%+19.2%
December 11, 2013December 6, 2013 CTSH Sale $72,203 +4.3%−6.7%−7.2%

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