Have Lincoln Electric Holdings Insiders Been Selling Stock?

We wouldn't blame Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LECO) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Jennifer Ansberry, the Executive VP recently netted about US$727k selling shares at an average price of US$242. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 14%, which is notable but not too bad.

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Lincoln Electric Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Jennifer Ansberry was the biggest sale of Lincoln Electric Holdings shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that an insider was selling shares at below the current price (US$244). As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. This single sale was just 14% of Jennifer Ansberry's stake.

Insiders in Lincoln Electric Holdings didn't buy any shares in the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. 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 Lincoln Electric Holdings

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).

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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 0.6% of Lincoln Electric Holdings shares, worth about US$77m. 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 Does This Data Suggest About Lincoln Electric Holdings Insiders?

Insiders haven't bought Lincoln Electric Holdings 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. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. We're in no rush to buy! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. While conducting our analysis, we found that Lincoln Electric Holdings has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

But note: Lincoln Electric Holdings 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.

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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.