---
title: "How to Read a Form 4, Box by Box (With a Real Example)"
description: "A Form 4 packs an insider trade into a header, two tables, and footnotes. What every box means - relationship checkboxes, transaction codes, the (A)/(D) flag, direct vs indirect ownership - walked through on a real 2026 CEO purchase, with the EDGAR document open beside it."
canonical: https://insideralpha.ai/learn/how-to-read-a-form-4
date_published: 2026-08-03
date_updated: 2026-09-23
publisher: InsiderAlpha (https://insideralpha.ai)
---

Canonical URL: https://insideralpha.ai/learn/how-to-read-a-form-4
Published 2026-08-03. Updated 2026-09-23.

# How to read a Form 4, box by box

Section 16 reporting persons generally disclose reportable ownership transactions on [Form 4](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/sec-form-4) by the end of the second business day after the transaction, subject to the applicable exceptions. The form covers more than purchases and sales, and every Form 4 has the same anatomy: a **header** that says who traded and what their relationship to the company is, **Table I** for common-stock transactions, **Table II** for options and other derivatives, and **footnotes**, where the caveats are. A simple filing takes a minute to read. Joint ownership, amendments and linked derivative transactions can take several documents to untangle.

This guide follows the boxes as they are laid out on the [SEC's blank Form 4](https://www.sec.gov/about/forms/form4.pdf), and then reads a real filing from EDGAR line by line. If you have a filing open in another tab, the section headings below map to what is in front of you.

*Figure: Every Form 4 has the same four parts, in this order.*

## The header: who, where, and in what capacity

The top of the form identifies the reporting person, the issuer and its ticker, and the date of the earliest transaction being reported. The most important header element is the **relationship checkbox group**: *Director*, *Officer (give title below)*, *[10% Owner](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/what-is-a-10-percent-owner)*, and *Other*. They record the person's reporting capacity. A job title is context. It says nothing about why they traded or what the stock does next.

The checkboxes are not exclusive, which trips people up. A CEO who also sits on the board has *both* Director and Officer checked. Read all four boxes, not the first one that is ticked.

Since the amendments adopted in [Release 33-11138, "Insider Trading Arrangements and Related Disclosures"](https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/final/2022/33-11138.pdf), the form also carries a dedicated checkbox indicating the trade was made under a pre-scheduled [Rule 10b5-1 plan](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/rule-10b5-1), with the plan's adoption date noted in the "Explanation of Responses." The indication concerns an arrangement intended to satisfy the rule's affirmative-defense conditions. An unchecked or absent indication does not prove discretionary timing. Follow the footnote references to identify which rows a plan statement covers.

## Table I: non-derivative securities

Table I ("Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned") is where ordinary share transactions live. Reading left to right:

- **Title of security** - usually common stock.
- **Transaction date** - when the trade executed, not when it was filed.
- **Transaction code** - the single letter that determines the event: P (open-market or private purchase), S (sale), A (award or other specified acquisition), M (exempt exercise/conversion), F (exercise-price or tax delivery/withholding), G (gift). See the [full code guide](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/form-4-transaction-codes).
- **Amount, with an (A) or (D) flag** - shares acquired or disposed of.
- **Price** - often a weighted average across multiple executions, detailed in a footnote.
- **Shares owned after the transaction** - the insider's reported position for the relevant security and ownership basis. Compare like with like; this is not a complete personal balance sheet.
- **Ownership form: D or I** - *direct* (their own account) or *indirect*, with the nature of indirect ownership spelled out ("By Spouse," "By Family Trust," "By LLC").

## Table II: derivative securities

Table II covers options, warrants, RSUs, and convertibles - instruments whose value derives from the underlying stock. It adds columns for the exercise price, exercise/expiration dates, and the number of underlying shares. An option exercise typically produces rows in *both* tables: code M in Table II as the option is used up, and a matching acquisition of common stock in Table I. The paired rows describe a linked exercise, not two independent purchases. Inspect the instrument's terms and any separate sale, as our guide to [open-market vs derivative transactions](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/open-market-vs-derivative-transactions) covers in depth.

## The footnotes: where the caveats live

Footnotes carry the qualifications that change how a row should be read: weighted-average price ranges, shares held through entities, 10b5-1 plan adoption dates, and post-transaction reclassifications. Skimming a Form 4 without the footnotes is how a routine tax-withholding disposal gets misread as a bearish sale.

## A real example, read cold

Here is a filing you can open beside this page. On July 21, 2026, [Conagra Brands (CAG)](https://insideralpha.ai/company/CAG) filed a Form 4 for John P. Brase: accession 0001807641-26-000007, which EDGAR serves as a [filing index](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/23217/000180764126000007/0001807641-26-000007-index.htm), a [rendered document](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/23217/000180764126000007/xslF345X06/form4-07212026_100739.xml) and the [raw XML](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/23217/000180764126000007/form4-07212026_100739.xml) underneath it.

The header shows *both* the Director and the Officer box checked, with the title "President and CEO," and the 10b5-1 checkbox unchecked. Table I shows code **P** dated July 17: 35,000 shares acquired (A) at a weighted average of $14.5895, which gives an approximate value of $510,632.50 before costs. Shares owned after: 35,000, held directly (D). Table II is empty.

| Field | On the filing |
| --- | --- |
| Issuer / ticker | Conagra Brands / CAG |
| Reporting person | John P. Brase, President and CEO (Director *and* Officer boxes checked) |
| Transaction code | P - open-market or private purchase |
| Transaction date | 2026-07-17 (filed 2026-07-21) |
| Shares / price | 35,000 (A) at $14.5895 weighted average |
| Approximate value | $511,000 |
| Owned after / form | 35,000, Direct (D) |
| 10b5-1 checkbox | Unchecked - does not establish discretionary timing |

Reading it: the filing reports a common-stock purchase by a CEO, with a 35,000-share direct holding afterward. The source does not prove his motive, total wealth, whether this was his first-ever purchase, or who selected the execution date. To investigate those questions, compare earlier filings and any company ownership-policy disclosure. The [purchase checklist](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/insider-buying-signals) keeps those follow-up questions separate from the reported facts.

## Three details on that filing you would miss at a glance

**The deadline was met on the last possible day.** July 17, 2026 was a Friday. Business day one was Monday the 20th, business day two was Tuesday the 21st. The filing index records the July 21 filing date; the signature is also dated the 21st, but a signature alone would not establish when EDGAR received the document. The two-business-day clock set by [Release 34-46421, "Ownership Reports and Trading by Officers, Directors and Principal Security Holders"](https://www.sec.gov/rule-release/34-46421) is counted from the transaction date, not from the day the paperwork reached the lawyers. Keep the EDGAR filing and acceptance record when checking disclosure timing.

**The footnote has inconsistent wording.** Footnote 1 calls the price a weighted-average sale price, while the row is coded P and flagged as acquired. It gives an execution range of $14.575 to $14.59. Preserve that discrepancy: the source does not establish whether it resulted from template language or another error. Read any later amendment before silently changing the transaction classification or treating the prose as definitive.

**An attorney-in-fact signed on the insider's behalf.** Form 4 Instruction 7 permits an authorized person to sign for an individual. That presentation is not itself an error or a reason to reclassify the trade. Do not infer that several contemporaneous filings represent independent trading decisions merely from their signature or submission timing.

## The raw XML, for anyone parsing it

Every Form 4 on EDGAR has a machine-readable XML document behind the rendered page, and the element names map onto the boxes above. These are the ones that matter:

| Element | Box it corresponds to |
| --- | --- |
| `periodOfReport` | Date of earliest transaction reported |
| `isDirector`, `isOfficer`, `isTenPercentOwner`, `isOther` | The four relationship checkboxes, each independently true or false |
| `aff10b5One` | The plan indication: 1 indicates disclosed plan context; 0 or an absent field does not prove discretionary timing |
| `transactionCode` | Table I / II transaction code column |
| `transactionAcquiredDisposedCode` | The (A) or (D) flag beside the share count |
| `sharesOwnedFollowingTransaction` | Shares owned after the reported transaction |
| `directOrIndirectOwnership` and `natureOfOwnership` | The D or I column, and the explanation of indirect holdings |

Keep a reported zero price distinct from a blank or footnote-only price. A conversion's exercise price and the derivative's purchase price are separate fields. For a straightforward cash stock purchase, multiplying shares by reported price produces an estimate, subject to rounding and the footnotes; it does not supply a missing execution price.

A filing can contain several `nonDerivativeTransaction` blocks for different classes or ownership arrangements. The last `sharesOwnedFollowingTransaction` in document order is not a universal total. Group comparable securities and ownership forms before reconciling the sequence, and never sum after-transaction balances as though they were independent holdings.

## Five mistakes that survive a quick read

1. **Reading the filing date as the trade date.** They can be four calendar days apart, which matters when the stock moved in between.
2. **Counting a code M row as a purchase.** An option exercise acquires shares without an open-market decision behind it.
3. **Counting a code F row as a sale.** Shares withheld for tax are not an exit.
4. **Ignoring the D or I column.** An insider with a small direct holding may own far more through a trust or an LLC, and the "shares owned after" figure on a direct row says nothing about it.
5. **Treating multiple filings as multiple trades.** One economic transaction can generate several filings, which is what the next section is about.

## Amendments and duplicates

A corrected filing appears as **Form 4/A** next to the original, and one economic trade can generate several filings when multiple reporting persons (a fund, its adviser, its managing partner) each have a reporting obligation. EDGAR preserves the separate documents. Instruction 9 allows amendments to contain only added or corrected lines; read the explanation rather than assuming every amendment repeats the entire original. InsiderAlpha groups primary filings, but the source documents remain necessary to resolve unusual ownership or correction cases.

## Try the same checks on a recent purchase

Open [recent insider purchases](https://insideralpha.ai/insiders/recent-buys) and pick a company. Follow its original filing and write down four things: the trade date, the transaction code, direct or indirect ownership, and any footnote explaining the price or a plan. Then compare the insider's previous filings on their profile. Working in that order keeps a purchase, a pay event and a change in how shares are held from blurring into one story.

For context on the gap between a transaction and its disclosure, our [Form 4 study](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/form-4-by-the-numbers) gives the filing-lag distribution, a fixed snapshot date and a downloadable aggregate CSV. Use those figures as background, not as a substitute for the dates on the filing in front of you.

[Browse recent Form 4 filings →](https://insideralpha.ai/filings) · [Every transaction code explained →](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/form-4-transaction-codes)

*This article is informational and is not investment advice.*