Q: Can investors find out when the CEO is selling company stock?

A: Nobody knows the company's future better than the CEO. So if the CEO is dumping stock, that's something investors need to be aware of.

Securities regulators require a company's officers and directors, or investors that own more than 10% of the stock, to file documents outlining their ownership with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That includes the CEO.

There are a number of forms these officers and investors must file. When a company first issues stock, the CEO must file what's called a Form 3. This document describes the officer's ownership stake and is available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

More importantly, over time a CEO may buy or sell the company's stock. These changes in ownership must be disclosed on what's called a Form 4. These documents must be filed within two business days of the transactions. The Form 4, also available from the SEC's website, is the document that's most important since they contain most of the major transactions reported to the SEC.

Lastly, officers and directors must report any transactions that were exempt from being on a Form 4 on a Form 5. These documents are much less common, but still important to get a full picture of what the CEO is doing.

There's just one caution. Just because a CEO is selling stock doesn't mean the company is in trouble or the stock is about to tank. Remember that CEOs are people, too, with kids to put through college and homes to buy. Excessive or unusual selling is one thing to watch for, but just regular or routine selling doesn't tell you much more than that a CEO is looking to raise cash, usually for personal reasons. That's why some investors pay much more attention to when a CEO is buying stock. When CEOs buy the stock in the open market, and not part of an automatic purchase or pay package, that can be a promising sign about the future.

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