Clark Merrefield of The Journalist’s Resource writes about how business reporters should cover Form 4 filings, which disclose insider trading.
Merrefield writes, “The filing in question is called a Form 4, known as an insider trading report. Insiders must file a Form 4 when they buy or sell company shares.
“The Securities and Exchange Commission defines insiders as certain executives, such as officers or directors, plus anyone who owns more than 10% of a publicly traded firm or anyone with access to information because of a relationship with a company insider.
“Despite its name, the existence of an insider trading report does not indicate illegal insider trading happened. It simply indicates that an insider traded shares — and doing so is not necessarily illegal.
“Form 4 filings are publicly available through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system — EDGAR. Enter ‘SVB Financial Group’ and the Form 4 from Becker that has received news attention appears as an ‘insider trading report’ filed March 1.”
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