Executive Vice President of Enterprise Operations Gregory Smith Sold A Bunch Of Shares In Medtronic

Some Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Executive Vice President of Enterprise Operations, Gregory Smith, recently sold a substantial US$3.1m worth of stock at a price of US$102 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 45% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

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Medtronic Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Gregory Smith is the biggest insider sale of Medtronic shares that we've seen in the last year. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$101. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

In total, Medtronic insiders sold more 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 click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

Check out our latest analysis for Medtronic

I will like Medtronic 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.

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 0.05% of Medtronic shares, worth about US$60m. 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 Medtronic Insiders?

Unfortunately, there has been more insider selling of Medtronic stock, than buying, in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But since Medtronic is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. 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. At Simply Wall St, we found 2 warning signs for Medtronic that deserve your attention before buying any shares.

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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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.