Bullish Post Holdings Insiders Loaded Up On US$20.6m Of Stock

In the last year, multiple insiders have substantially increased their holdings of Post Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POST) stock, indicating that insiders' optimism about the company's prospects has increased.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

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Post Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Non-Executive Chairman William Stiritz for US$20m worth of shares, at about US$109 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of US$106. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when insiders have purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$21m for 188.74k shares. But insiders sold 45.81k shares worth US$5.2m. In total, Post Holdings insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. 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 Post Holdings

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Insiders At Post Holdings Have Bought Stock Recently

At Post Holdings,over the last quarter, we have observed quite a lot more insider buying than insider selling. We can see that Non-Executive Chairman William Stiritz paid US$20m for shares in the company. But President & CEO of Post Consumer Brands Nicolas Catoggio sold shares worth US$191k. We think insiders may be optimistic about the future, since insiders have been net buyers of shares.

Insider Ownership Of Post Holdings

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. Post Holdings insiders own 12% of the company, currently worth about US$708m based on the recent share price. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Post Holdings Tell Us?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. Along with the high insider ownership, this analysis suggests that insiders are quite bullish about Post Holdings. One for the watchlist, at least! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Post Holdings. While conducting our analysis, we found that Post Holdings has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.

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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 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.