Have Brady Insiders Been Selling Stock?

We wouldn't blame Brady Corporation (NYSE:BRC) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Russell Shaller, the President recently netted about US$917k selling shares at an average price of US$73.08. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 17%, which is notable but not too bad.

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Brady Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Independent Director, Elizabeth Bruno, sold US$1.4m worth of shares at a price of US$58.75 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$73.64, 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. This single sale was just 2.4% of Elizabeth Bruno's stake.

Brady insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. 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!

I will like Brady better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Does Brady 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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It's great to see that Brady insiders own 10.0% of the company, worth about US$350m. I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.

So What Do The Brady Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold Brady shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. But it is good to see that Brady is growing earnings. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. 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 Brady has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

Of course Brady may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality 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.