Have Celestica Insiders Been Selling Stock?

Some Celestica Inc. (TSE:CLS) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the President, Robert Mionis, recently sold a substantial CA$15m worth of stock at a price of CA$96.82 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 20% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

View our latest analysis for Celestica

Celestica Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Robert Mionis is the biggest insider sale of Celestica shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that even when the share price was slightly below the current price of CA$98.01, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. 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. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. This single sale was just 20% of Robert Mionis's stake.

In the last year Celestica insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of small cap stocks that are not only being bought by insiders but also have attractive valuations.

Insider Ownership Of Celestica

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Celestica insiders own about CA$98m worth of shares. That equates to 0.9% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The Celestica Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders sold Celestica shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. But it is good to see that Celestica is growing earnings. 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 Celestica. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Celestica.

But note: Celestica may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.