Have Mondelez International Insiders Been Selling Stock?
We wouldn't blame Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Dirk Van de Put, the Chairman & CEO recently netted about US$8.5m selling shares at an average price of US$66.04. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 10%, which is notable but not too bad.
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Mondelez International
Notably, that recent sale by Dirk Van de Put is the biggest insider sale of Mondelez International shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that even when the share price was slightly below the current price of US$67.38, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. We note that the biggest single sale was only 10% of Dirk Van de Put's holding.
Insiders in Mondelez International didn't buy any shares in the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
Check out our latest analysis for Mondelez International
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Insider Ownership
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Mondelez International insiders own about US$154m worth of shares (which is 0.2% of the company). Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.
So What Does This Data Suggest About Mondelez International Insiders?
An insider hasn't bought Mondelez International stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. On the plus side, Mondelez International makes money, and is growing profits. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Mondelez International you should know about.
Of course Mondelez International may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.
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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