Energy Focus (EFOI) Insider Trading Activity

The main difference between informative and uninformative transactions is that informative ones reflect sentiment, so they are worth paying attention to.

Corporate insiders are often awarded stock options as part of their compensation packages; this gives them the right to buy shares at a set price for a finite period. When an insider buys stocks because they are receiving a grant of shares for retention purposes, the Buy does not reveal what they think about the company’s prospects. Therefore, this type of transaction is considered an uninformative Buy transaction. It does not reflect sentiment and is of little value to investors.

On the other hand, there is usually only one reason that an insider uses their personal funds to buy stocks of their company on the open market: they believe that the share price is going to rise. This is an informative transaction that provides valuable information to investors.

Likewise, there are informative and uninformative Sell transactions, too. However, it can be more difficult to understand motive when it comes to informative Sell transactions, as they may reflect need; for example, an insider might decide to sell to pay for a new car, rather than because they have a pessimistic outlook on the stock.

By law, corporate insiders are required to disclose trades they make in their own company to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Our technology scans these the Form 4 filings, and using the information on the form, determines whether the Buy or Sell transactions are informative or uninformative.

Yes, head over to our Expert Center to see a list of the top 100 corporate insiders and follow the insiders of your choice. Visit their profiles for more details about their transactions and see how they perform on a stock-by-stock basis.

EFOI's CEO is Chiao Chieh Jay Huang.

Non Open Market Buy: An agreement to purchase shares made directly with a company from the company’s own inventory of shares. Example: An insider executes on an option to buy shares from the company whereas the transaction does not occur through an exchange.

Non Open Market Sell: Similarly to a Non Open Market Buy, this transaction does not occur through an exchange and is an agreement made with a company.

Grant/Award/Other Acquisition: An Award or grant are both forms of financial assistance, typically for a public purpose provided by the federal government after a contractual agreement is made resulting in an upfront payment to complete agreed upon work.

Auto Buy: A transaction which was initiated and completed automatically often allowing investors to purchase shares of a stock in regularly without manually confirming the buy order.

Auto Sell: A transaction which was initiated and completed automatically to sell a security without manually confirming the sell order.

Options Exercised and fully Sold: In regards to options trading, exercising an option means proceeding to buy or sell a specified security within an options contract.