Ryan Specialty Holdings Insiders Sold US$38m Of Shares Suggesting Hesitancy

The fact that multiple Ryan Specialty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:RYAN) insiders offloaded a considerable amount of shares over the past year could have raised some eyebrows amongst investors. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more beneficial than knowing whether they are selling, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, when multiple insiders sell stock over a specific duration, shareholders should take notice as that could possibly be a red flag.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Ryan Specialty Holdings

The Director, Nicholas Cortezi, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$7.0m worth of shares at a price of US$67.17 each. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$53.40). So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 725.00 shares worth US$49k. But insiders sold 574.44k shares worth US$38m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Ryan Specialty Holdings shares, than buying. 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!

See our latest analysis for Ryan Specialty Holdings

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Have Ryan Specialty Holdings Insiders Traded Recently?

There was some insider buying at Ryan Specialty Holdings over the last quarter. insider Patrick Ryan purchased US$5.6k worth of shares in that period. It's good to see the insider buying, as well as the lack of recent sellers. However, in this case the amount invested recently is quite small.

Does Ryan Specialty Holdings Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It's great to see that Ryan Specialty Holdings insiders own 7.3% of the company, worth about US$1.0b. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Ryan Specialty Holdings Insiders?

Insider purchases may have been minimal, in the last three months, but there was no selling at all. The net investment is not enough to encourage us much. It's great to see high levels of insider ownership, but looking back over the last year, we'd need to see more buying to gain confidence from the Ryan Specialty Holdings insider transactions. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. When we did our research, we found 3 warning signs for Ryan Specialty Holdings (1 is potentially serious!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

But note: Ryan Specialty Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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.