This Insider Has Just Sold Shares In Colgate-Palmolive

Some Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Group President of Europe & Developing Markets, Panagiotis Tsourapas, recently sold a substantial US$1.9m worth of stock at a price of US$93.30 per share. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 25%, which is notable but not too bad.

View our latest analysis for Colgate-Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Panagiotis Tsourapas was the biggest sale of Colgate-Palmolive shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$90.22. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. We note that this sale took place at around the current price, so it isn't a major concern, though it's hardly a good sign.

In the last year Colgate-Palmolive insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Insider Ownership

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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Colgate-Palmolive insiders own about US$79m worth of shares. That equates to 0.1% of the company. 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 Do The Colgate-Palmolive Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider hasn't bought Colgate-Palmolive stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. But since Colgate-Palmolive is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. We're in no rush to buy! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. While conducting our analysis, we found that Colgate-Palmolive has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.