Have Church & Dwight Insiders Been Selling Stock?

Some Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Lead Independent Director, Ravichandra Saligram, recently sold a substantial US$1.1m worth of stock at a price of US$106 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 18% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

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Church & Dwight Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Lead Independent Director Ravichandra Saligram was not their only sale of Church & Dwight shares this year. They previously made an even bigger sale of -US$2.2m worth of shares at a price of US$108 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$106. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern.

Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Church & Dwight shares, than buying. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

I will like Church & Dwight 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 Of Church & Dwight

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 0.2% of Church & Dwight shares, worth about US$42m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Church & Dwight Tell Us?

Unfortunately, there has been more insider selling of Church & Dwight stock, than buying, in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But since Church & Dwight 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. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Church & Dwight and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Church & Dwight 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.