AtriCure Independent Director Karen Prange Sells 25% Of Holding

We'd be surprised if AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) shareholders haven't noticed that the Independent Director, Karen Prange, recently sold US$233k worth of stock at US$38.12 per share. The eyebrow raising move amounted to a reduction of 25% in their holding.

View our latest analysis for AtriCure

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At AtriCure

In fact, the recent sale by Karen Prange was the biggest sale of AtriCure shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$34.52. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

All up, insiders sold more shares in AtriCure than they bought, over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Insider Ownership Of AtriCure

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 3.5% of AtriCure shares, worth about US$60m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Does This Data Suggest About AtriCure Insiders?

An insider hasn't bought AtriCure stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We'd practice some caution before buying! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing AtriCure. While conducting our analysis, we found that AtriCure has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore them.

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For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.