Insiders At Willis Lease Finance Sold US$33m In Stock, Alluding To Potential Weakness

In the last year, many Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC) insiders sold a substantial stake in the company which may have sparked shareholders' attention. When analyzing insider transactions, it is usually more valuable to know whether insiders are buying versus knowing if they are selling, as the latter sends an ambiguous message. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Willis Lease Finance

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Founder & Executive Chairman, Charles Willis, sold US$10m worth of shares at a price of US$229 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$170). So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

In the last year Willis Lease Finance insiders didn't buy any company stock. 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!

View our latest analysis for Willis Lease Finance

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Insiders At Willis Lease Finance Have Sold Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Willis Lease Finance. Specifically, Executive VP & CFO Scott Flaherty ditched US$2.7m worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.

Does Willis Lease Finance Boast High Insider Ownership?

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's great to see that Willis Lease Finance insiders own 27% of the company, worth about US$314m. 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 Do The Willis Lease Finance Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But it is good to see that Willis Lease Finance is growing earnings. The company boasts high insider ownership, but we're a little hesitant, given the history of share sales. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Willis Lease Finance. For example - Willis Lease Finance has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

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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.