What this is
Headlines say a chief executive sold hundreds of millions of dollars of stock. That number alone says very little. Folio Lantern shows how much of the person's stake it was, whether the sale was under a trading plan disclosed in the filing or made to cover taxes, and how much they still own.
We currently track 180 companies. Everything on the site describes those companies only, not the market as a whole.
How it works
Officers, directors and large shareholders of U.S. public companies report their holdings and trades to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Forms 3, 4 and 5. Every morning we collect the new filings for the companies we track, add up each person's holdings across their trusts and other entities, and check that the numbers reconcile: starting holdings plus reported transactions should equal ending holdings.
When they don't reconcile, we show the difference and say why as far as the filings allow. We don't hide or smooth gaps. Every figure links to its filing, so you can check it yourself. The full rules are on the methodology page.
Explain, don't predict
We describe what insiders did. We don't tell you what to do about it. There are no buy or sell calls, no scores and no signals here. Our own backtests found that insider buying has not beaten the market since 2020.
We also don't guess at motives. Filings rarely state reasons, so a sale with no trading plan in the filing is labeled "no plan disclosed" and nothing more. We never say a sale moved a stock price. And the company stock a person discloses is not their whole wealth; we only see what is in these filings.
Who writes it
Pages and articles are published under the byline Folio Lantern Research. The figures are calculated by software from the filings, following the published methodology, and reviewed company by company as coverage grows.
Contact
Questions, corrections and feedback: [email protected]. If you think a number is wrong, tell us the company, the person and the filing, and we will check it against the source. See the disclaimer for how corrections are handled.