undamentalytics Newsletter

Schulke Ryan: insider trades

Chief executive, Officer, Director, 10% owner at 2 companies we cover. 37 open-market purchases and 1 sale not made under a pre-set plan, reported from January 12, 2016 to June 2, 2026.

Would copying Schulke Ryan’s purchases have beaten the S&P 500?

Too few purchases to judge. Only 2 purchases have 12 months of prices after the report; we judge insiders once they have 20. The figures below can swing a long way on a handful of trades. Buying each purchase the day after it was reported, an equal amount each, and holding it 12 months or until they reported a sale would have turned $10,000 on January 13, 2016 into $9,317 by November 2, 2026, −0.7% a year. The copy held shares only 10% of the time, so the fair comparison is the S&P 500 on those same days with Treasury bills otherwise: $15,850, +4.4% a year (the S&P 500 held throughout made $47,637, +15.6% a year). Beta against the index was 0.05. Twelve months after each report, the average purchase was −48.1% against the S&P 500 (median −48.1%), and 0% beat it. Measured from the trade date, the insider’s own timing, the average was −53.5%. After their sales, the shares moved −22.7% against the index over 12 months on average (a negative figure means selling was the right call); 100% 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.

$0$20.0k$40.0k 201620182020202220242026 $47.6k$15.8k$9.3k
Copying Schulke RyanS&P 500, same days investedS&P 500, held throughout $10,000 copying Schulke Ryan’s open-market purchases from January 13, 2016, before costs and taxes, marked weekly. Each purchase gets the same starting stake, bought at the close of the first trading day after the report and sold 12 months later or the day after a reported sale of that stock; uninvested money earns the Treasury bill rate. “Same days invested” holds the S&P 500 only on the days the copy held shares, Treasury bills otherwise.
Return a year, copying
−0.7%
S&P 500, same days invested
+4.4% (held throughout +15.6%)
Time in shares
10%
Sharpe ratio (S&P 500)
−0.03 (0.77)
Biggest drop (S&P 500)
−51% (−34%)
Market sensitivity (beta)
0.05
Purchases copied
2

Trade by trade

Schulke Ryan: trades against the S&P 500 afterwards
MeasuredTrades countedAverage vs S&P 500MedianWent the right wayYearst-statisticp-valueEvidence
Purchases, 3 months after the report 2 −9.8% −9.8% 0% 1 — — Not enough years
Purchases, 6 months after the report 2 −18.1% −18.1% 0% 1 — — Not enough years
Purchases, 12 months after the report 2 −48.1% −48.1% 0% 1 — — Not enough years
Purchases, 12 months after the trade 1 −53.5% −53.5% 0% 1 — — Not enough years
Sales, 3 months after the report 1 −8.3% −8.3% 100% 1 — — Not enough years
Sales, 12 months after the report 1 −22.7% −22.7% 100% 1 — — Not enough years
Sales, 12 months after the trade 1 −36.9% −36.9% 100% 1 — — Not enough years

“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
Fluent, Inc. FLNT Chief Strategy Officer370January 12, 2016June 2, 2026
Red Violet, Inc. RDVT —01April 11, 2018April 11, 2018

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
June 2, 2026June 1, 2026 FLNT Purchase $10,350 not yetnot yetnot yet
June 18, 2024June 14, 2024 FLNT Purchase $10,260 not yetnot yetnot yet
March 14, 2024March 13, 2024 FLNT Purchase $16,430 not yetnot yetnot yet
March 12, 2024March 12, 2024 FLNT Purchase $11,800 not yetnot yetnot yet
March 6, 2024March 4, 2024 FLNT Purchase $16,500 not yetnot yetnot yet
December 14, 2023December 12, 2023 FLNT Purchase $11,769 not yetnot yetnot yet
December 12, 2023December 8, 2023 FLNT Purchase $12,240 not yetnot yetnot yet
December 8, 2023December 6, 2023 FLNT Purchase $12,000 not yetnot yetnot yet
December 5, 2023December 1, 2023 FLNT Purchase $18,600 not yetnot yetnot yet
November 30, 2023November 28, 2023 FLNT Purchase $18,360 not yetnot yetnot yet
November 27, 2023November 22, 2023 FLNT Purchase $18,360 not yetnot yetnot yet
November 21, 2023November 17, 2023 FLNT Purchase $19,080 not yetnot yetnot yet
May 23, 2023May 19, 2023 FLNT Purchase $28,000 not yetnot yetnot yet
March 15, 2022March 11, 2022 FLNT Purchase $36,884 not yetnot yetnot yet
November 12, 2021November 10, 2021 FLNT Purchase $25,300 not yetnot yetnot yet
August 17, 2020August 13, 2020 FLNT Purchase $47,722 not yetnot yetnot yet
May 18, 2020May 14, 2020 FLNT Purchase $11,272 not yetnot yetnot yet
December 12, 2019December 11, 2019 FLNT Purchase $35,044 not yetnot yetnot yet
December 4, 2019December 3, 2019 FLNT Purchase $14,151 not yetnot yetnot yet
December 2, 2019November 27, 2019 FLNT Purchase $30,899 not yetnot yetnot yet
August 26, 2019August 23, 2019 FLNT Purchase $100,980 not yetnot yetnot yet
August 14, 2019August 13, 2019 FLNT Purchase $99,540 not yetnot yetnot yet
August 14, 2018August 10, 2018 FLNT Purchase $240,000 not yetnot yetnot yet
June 18, 2018June 14, 2018 FLNT Purchase $250,000 not yetnot yetnot yet
June 12, 2018June 8, 2018 FLNT Purchase $1,400,000 not yetnot yetnot yet
May 15, 2018May 11, 2018 FLNT Purchase $90,650 not yetnot yetnot yet
April 11, 2018April 9, 2018 RDVT Sale $575,000 −8.3%−22.7%−36.9%
April 2, 2018March 29, 2018 FLNT Purchase $254,000 not yetnot yetnot yet
March 29, 2018March 28, 2018 FLNT Purchase $258,000 not yetnot yetnot yet
February 13, 2018February 13, 2018 FLNT Purchase $293,000 not yetnot yetnot yet
January 27, 2017January 26, 2017 FLNT Purchase $59,250 not yetnot yetnot yet
January 24, 2017January 23, 2017 FLNT Purchase $472,500 not yetnot yetnot yet
November 10, 2016November 9, 2016 FLNT Purchase $18,600 not yetnot yetnot yet
November 9, 2016November 8, 2016 FLNT Purchase $20,050 not yetnot yetnot yet
November 8, 2016November 7, 2016 FLNT Purchase $72,583 not yetnot yetnot yet
June 3, 2016June 2, 2016 FLNT Purchase $48,900 not yetnot yetnot yet
January 29, 2016January 28, 2016 FLNT Purchase $30,887 −11.5%−47.9%not yet
January 12, 2016January 11, 2016 FLNT Purchase $116,200 −8.1%−48.3%−53.4%

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