Curtiss-Wright Insiders Sell US$9.1m Of Stock, Possibly Signalling Caution

Over the past year, many Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE:CW) insiders sold a significant stake in the company which may have piqued investors' interest. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

We check all companies for important risks. See what we found for Curtiss-Wright in our free report.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Curtiss-Wright

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the insider, Sheri Fuller, sold US$3.0m worth of shares at a price of US$281 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$418). 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. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. We note that the biggest single sale was only 34% of Sheri Fuller's holding.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 447.00 shares for US$120k. But they sold 28.38k shares for US$9.1m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Curtiss-Wright than they bought, over the last year. The average sell price was around US$322. We don't gain confidence from insider selling below the recent share price. But we wouldn't put too much weight on the insider selling. 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!

View our latest analysis for Curtiss-Wright

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

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 0.5% of Curtiss-Wright shares, worth about US$72m. 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 Curtiss-Wright Insiders?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Curtiss-Wright shares in the last quarter. Our analysis of Curtiss-Wright insider transactions leaves us cautious. The modest level of insider ownership is, at least, some comfort. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Curtiss-Wright.

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 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.