This Ecovyst Insider Reduced Their Stake By 27%

Insiders were net sellers of Ecovyst Inc.'s (NYSE:ECVT ) stock during the past year. That is, insiders sold more stock than they bought.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for Ecovyst

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Ecovyst

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Independent Director, Susan Ward, for US$251k worth of shares, at about US$10.28 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$7.15. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels. Susan Ward was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$213k for 33.61k shares. But they sold 24.44k shares for US$251k. 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!

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Insiders At Ecovyst Have Bought Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider buying at Ecovyst. Not only was there no selling that we can see, but they collectively bought US$213k worth of shares. This could be interpreted as suggesting a positive outlook.

Does Ecovyst Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Ecovyst insiders own 2.9% of the company, worth about US$24m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Do The Ecovyst Insider Transactions Indicate?

It is good to see recent purchasing. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. The more recent transactions are a positive, but Ecovyst insiders haven't shown the sustained enthusiasm that we look for, although they do own a decent number of shares, overall. In short they are likely aligned with shareholders. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Ecovyst. For example - Ecovyst has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

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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.