Stock Markets March 19, 2026

Insiders Step In as Some Executives Sell for Tax Needs: Salesforce Director, Others Add Shares

A midweek snapshot of director and officer trades shows targeted purchases at depressed prices and automatic sales tied to RSU vesting

By Leila Farooq CRM AVO CTM WAT
Insiders Step In as Some Executives Sell for Tax Needs: Salesforce Director, Others Add Shares
CRM AVO CTM WAT

Insider filings disclosed Wednesday, March 18, 2026, show a mix of purchases and sales across several U.S. listed companies. Notable buys include Salesforce Director David Blair Kirk and large purchases by owners and executives at Mission Produce, Castellum, Waters Corp and Exzeo Group. Several Broadcom executives carried out automatic sales to cover withholding taxes on vested restricted stock units, and Cloudflare's CEO executed pre-arranged sales under a Rule 10b5-1 plan. The transactions offer a current snapshot of how insiders are positioning their holdings amid varied year-to-date share price moves.

Key Points

  • Several insiders made purchases at prices that are below recent highs, including Salesforce Director David Blair Kirk and executives at Mission Produce, Castellum, Waters Corp and Exzeo Group.
  • A cluster of large Broadcom executive sales were automatic transactions to cover withholding taxes on vesting restricted stock units, and Cloudflare's CEO sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.
  • Filings reference InvestingPro valuation commentary for multiple companies, with some stocks described as appearing undervalued and others as overvalued relative to Fair Value estimates - sectors impacted include technology, semiconductors, cloud services, and agriculture.

Here is a detailed accounting of the most material insider transactions disclosed on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, organized by significant purchases followed by the largest sales disclosed in the same period. The filings illustrate a pair of themes - selective insider buying at prices that reflect notable recent share declines for some issuers, and a cluster of pre-arranged or automatic sales executed to meet tax-withholding obligations tied to equity vesting.


Top buys

Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) - Director David Blair Kirk reported acquiring 2,570 shares of common stock on March 18, 2026. The reported purchase price was $194.6219 per share, producing a total transaction value of $500,178. The filing notes the purchase occurred while the stock was trading around $194.34, a level that, according to the disclosure, places the shares roughly 27% below their year-to-date level.

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) - Globalharvest Holdings Venture Ltd, identified as a ten percent owner, purchased 3,695 shares on March 17, 2026. The weighted average price paid was $11.94 per share, amounting to $44,118 in total consideration, with individual trade prices ranging from $11.83 to $12.00. The disclosure indicates the purchase comes as the stock has fallen 6.2% over the prior week, with the share price reported at $12.49. After the acquisition, Globalharvest Holdings Venture Ltd directly holds 9,991,577 shares of Mission Produce. The filing also references an InvestingPro analysis that characterizes the stock as appearing undervalued versus its Fair Value estimate and lists a market capitalization of $885.6 million.

Castellum, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTM) - Chief Operating Officer Andrew Merriman bought 3,000 shares on March 18, 2026, at $0.7983 per share, for an aggregate transaction value of $2,394. The purchase coincided with the stock trading at its 52-week low of $0.79, and the filing notes the share price is down about 10% year-to-date. Following the reported acquisition, Merriman directly owns 534,000 shares of Castellum. The disclosure further cites an InvestingPro analysis that indicates the company appears undervalued and that it holds more cash than debt on its balance sheet.

Waters Corp (NYSE:WAT) - Director Wei Jiang purchased 500 shares on March 16, 2026, at $289.46 per share, for a total of $144,730. The filing states that Jiang now directly owns 3,441.27 shares. The insider purchase is reported as occurring while the stock was trading near a 52-week low of $275.05 and down 22% year-to-date. The filing includes an InvestingPro assessment that currently places Waters slightly overvalued relative to its Fair Value estimate and mentions that InvestingPro provides 13 additional ProTips for WAT offering more detailed analysis.

Exzeo Group, Inc. (EXCHANGE:XZO) - Chief Executive Officer Paresh Patel reported two purchases on March 17 and March 18, 2026, acquiring a total of 4,000 shares for $63,960. The Form 4 shows purchases of 2,000 shares on March 17 at $15.68 per share and another 2,000 shares on March 18 at $16.30 per share. After these transactions, Patel directly owns 1,576,013 shares of Exzeo Group. The filing remarks that the stock has declined 34% year-to-date and was trading at $15.16, which is below its 52-week high of $24.60. The disclosure also notes that analysts maintain price targets in the $25 to $27 range.


Top sells

Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) - A set of large sales by Broadcom executives were disclosed as automatic transactions executed to cover withholding taxes upon the vesting of restricted stock units. The filings show several significant dispositions across March 16 and 17, 2026.

  • President of ISG, Velaga S. Ram, sold 60,276 shares in transactions priced between $317.946 and $328.766, producing proceeds of $20,819,102.
  • Chief Financial Officer Kirsten M. Spears disposed of 60,461 shares across multiple trades at prices ranging from $318.05 to $328.524, totaling $19,452,715.
  • President, SSG Charlie B Kawwas sold 60,526 shares at prices between $317.972 and $328.695, with sales amounting to $20,966,674. Post-transaction holdings reported include 74,626 shares directly, plus indirect and custodial holdings, which the filing itemizes as Trust - 797,184 shares; Child 1 - 785 shares; Child 2 - 785 shares; Child 3 - 785 shares; and spouse as custodian for Child 4 - 785 shares.
  • Chief Legal & Corporate Affairs Officer Brazeal Mark David sold 64,306 shares at prices ranging from $317.97 to $328.841, with total proceeds of $27,061,693.

The filings reiterate that Broadcom was trading at $315.93 at the time of reporting and that, according to the InvestingPro Fair Value metric cited in the disclosures, the stock's Fair Value is $347.36. The filings further note Broadcom's market capitalization figure referenced in the disclosure as $1.5 trillion and its 63% return over the past year, while characterizing the recent sales as automatic withholding transactions tied to RSU vesting.

Cloudflare, Inc. (NASDAQ:NET) - CEO and Board Co-Chair Matthew Prince sold Class A common stock in multiple transactions conducted between March 16 and March 18, 2026, under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The filings show total sales of $30.5 million with trade prices ranging from $207.9131 to $226.0348. The disclosure lists several specific trades on March 16: 15,146 shares at a weighted average price of $207.9131; 17,589 shares at $208.7603; 12,817 shares at $209.8993; 5,164 shares at $210.5627; 1,406 shares at $212.0659; and 262 shares at $212.6768. The filing includes InvestingPro commentary that the stock is trading at $225.48, has a market capitalization of $79.5 billion, has risen nearly 96% over the past year, and appears overvalued based on InvestingPro's Fair Value assessment.


What these filings indicate

The disclosures provide a mixed picture. Several insiders used personal or entity funds to purchase shares at levels described in the filings as well below recent highs - a pattern that, in the filings, is presented as potential confidence in company prospects at current price points. At the same time, the cluster of Broadcom filings shows multiple executives conducting automatic sales to satisfy tax withholdings triggered by equity vesting. The Cloudflare sales were executed under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, according to the filings, and therefore represent scheduled dispositions rather than opportunistic divestitures tied to a company-specific announcement, as described in the disclosure.

These filings also underline the importance of context when interpreting insider transactions. The disclosures themselves stress that sales can reflect personal financial obligations or pre-set plans, while purchases are sometimes made when insiders judge the stock's current price attractive. The filings referenced in this report include InvestingPro-derived commentary and metrics regarding Fair Value estimates and market capitalization figures for several of the companies noted.


Bottom line

Wednesday's Form 4 filings capture a routine but informative set of insider moves: company insiders taking new positions in some firms at materially lower prices, and a group of scheduled or automatic sales to address tax liabilities related to RSU vesting. Investors parsing this data should weigh the stated context of automatic or pre-arranged sales against outright discretionary purchases by insiders, while also noting the valuation commentary included in the filings.

Risks

  • Insider sales associated with tax-withholding on vested equity may not indicate negative company fundamentals - however, they can increase share supply and temporarily pressure prices; this is relevant to the semiconductor and technology sectors.
  • Valuation assessments cited in the filings vary by provider and may not reflect all market factors; investors should consider that InvestingPro's Fair Value commentary is one input among other potential valuation indicators, affecting companies across sectors such as cloud services and lab instrumentation.
  • Purchases by insiders during periods of stock weakness do not guarantee future share price appreciation and should be weighed alongside other company-specific financial metrics and analyst views, particularly in cyclical sectors like agriculture and semiconductors.

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