SEC Insider Form 4

The Insider Form 4 report shows the Insider name, the relation to the firm (usually the insider's job title), the date of the transaction, the type of transaction (buy or sell), the number of shares traded, the share price at the time of transaction, and the number of shares held by the insider after the transaction.

Why Investors Care

Insider trading information from Form 4 filings filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). An insider is defined as any officer and/or beneficial owner who is buying or selling their company's stock is required to file a Form 4. An officer is the company's president, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer, any vice-president of the issuer in charge of a principal business unit, division, or function (such as sales, administration, or finance), any other officer who performs a policy-making function, or any other person who performs similar policy-making functions for the issuer. Officers of the issuer's parent(s) or subsidiaries shall be deemed officers of the issuer if they perform such policy-making functions for the issuer. A beneficial owner is a person who owns more than 10% of the stock, or who, directly or indirectly, through any contact, arrangement, understanding, and relationship or otherwise, has or shares a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in the stock.

Form 4's must be filed with the SEC by the 10th of the month following the trade. For example, an insider buying shares on October 8 has until November 10 to file the Form 4 reporting that transaction to the SEC. This is why there is a much greater volume of insider trading information around the 10th of each month than at other times. Although most insiders file their forms on time, late filings do occasionally occur.

link: http://www.nasdaq.com/quotes/sec-insider-form-4.aspx#/learn-more