Anyone interested in Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI) should probably be aware that the President of Enterprise Operations & Supply Chain, Thomas Scalf, recently divested US$498k worth of shares in the company, at an average price of US$73.27 each. The eyebrow raising move amounted to a reduction of 19% in their holding.
Check out our latest analysis for Donaldson Company
In fact, the recent sale by President of Enterprise Operations & Supply Chain Thomas Scalf was not their only sale of Donaldson Company shares this year. They previously made an even bigger sale of -US$767k worth of shares at a price of US$73.09 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even slightly below the current price of US$73.32. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. This single sale was just 25% of Thomas Scalf's stake.
Thomas Scalf divested 17.50k shares over the last 12 months at an average price of US$72.28. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).
Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Donaldson Company insiders own 0.6% of the company, worth about US$50m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.
An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. But since Donaldson Company is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Donaldson Company. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Donaldson Company.
If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.