A Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) insider lowered their holding by 41% earlier this year

From what we can see, insiders were net sellers in Whitbread plc's (LON:WTB ) during the past 12 months. That is, insiders sold the stock in greater numbers than they purchased it.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

Check out our latest analysis for Whitbread

Whitbread Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The insider, Nicholas Cadbury, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for UK£649k worth of shares at a price of UK£32.52 each. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of UK£29.96. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive). Nicholas Cadbury was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK£232k for 7.43k shares. On the other hand they divested 19.95k shares, for UK£649k. 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!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Insider Ownership

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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 0.1% of Whitbread shares, worth about UK£5.9m, according to our data. We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Whitbread Insiders?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Whitbread shares in the last quarter. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by Whitbread insiders. And we're not picking up on high enough insider ownership to give us any comfort. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in Whitbread, you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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, but not derivative transactions.

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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.