Independent Director of ConocoPhillips Robert Walker Buys 30% More Shares

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Independent Director, Robert Walker, recently bought a whopping US$1.0m worth of stock, at a price of US$97.80. Not only is that a big swing, but it increased their holding size by 30%, which is definitely great to see.

View our latest analysis for ConocoPhillips

ConocoPhillips Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Director & Advisor, Timothy Leach, sold US$6.0m worth of shares at a price of US$108 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$95.12. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 12.90k shares worth US$1.3m. But insiders sold 91.93k shares worth US$10m. All up, insiders sold more shares in ConocoPhillips than they bought, over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

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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 0.07% of ConocoPhillips shares, worth about US$91m. 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 ConocoPhillips Insiders?

It is good to see recent purchasing. But we can't say the same for the transactions over the last 12 months. We don't take much heart from transactions by ConocoPhillips insiders over the last year. But they own a reasonable amount of the company, and there was some buying recently. Overall they seem reasonably aligned. While it's good to be aware of 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. For example - ConocoPhillips has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

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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