Have Insiders Sold Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI) Shares Recently?

We'd be surprised if Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI) shareholders haven't noticed that the Independent Director, John Hansen, recently sold US$111k worth of stock at US$55.36 per share. However, the silver lining is that the sale only reduced their total holding by 2.7%, so we're hesitant to read anything much into it, on its own.

View our latest analysis for Mueller Industries

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Mueller Industries

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Chairman of the Board & CEO, Gregory Christopher, for US$1.2m worth of shares, at about US$48.00 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$57.57, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. 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. We note that the biggest single sale was only 3.8% of Gregory Christopher's holding.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$559k for 11.80k shares. But they sold 27.40k shares for US$1.3m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Mueller Industries shares, than buying. 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!

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Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 2.9% of Mueller Industries shares, worth about US$95m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Mueller Industries Tell Us?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. On the plus side, Mueller Industries makes money, and is growing profits. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Mueller Industries you should know about.

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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, 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.