CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CEIX) drops to US$20.56, yet insiders may have sold too early fetching only US$16.58 apiece

CONSOL Energy Inc.'s (NYSE:CEIX) stock price has dropped 19% in the previous week, but insiders who sold US$260k in stock over the past year have had less luck. Given that the average selling price of US$16.58 is still lower than the current share price, insiders would probably have been better off keeping their shares.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

View our latest analysis for CONSOL Energy

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At CONSOL Energy

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Independent Director, John Mills, sold US$260k worth of shares at a price of US$16.58 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$20.56. 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. 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. This single sale was just 38% of John Mills's stake. The only individual insider seller over the last year was John Mills.

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!

I will like CONSOL Energy better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership of CONSOL Energy

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. It appears that CONSOL Energy insiders own 1.5% of the company, worth about US$10m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Do The CONSOL Energy Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded CONSOL Energy shares in the last quarter. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by CONSOL Energy insiders. But it's good to see that insiders own shares in the company. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for CONSOL Energy and we suggest you have a look.

Of course CONSOL Energy 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, 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.