LyondellBasell Industries Insiders Sold US$2.8m Of Shares Suggesting Hesitancy

In the last year, many LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB) insiders sold a substantial stake in the company which may have sparked shareholders' attention. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

Check out our latest analysis for LyondellBasell Industries

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At LyondellBasell Industries

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Independent Non-Executive Director, Robin William Buchanan, sold US$1.8m worth of shares at a price of US$100 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$82.65. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

LyondellBasell Industries insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. 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 LyondellBasell Industries Have Sold Stock Recently

The last three months saw significant insider selling at LyondellBasell Industries. Specifically, Executive Vice President of Operational Excellence & HSE Dale Friedrichs ditched US$481k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that LyondellBasell Industries insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about US$43m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At LyondellBasell Industries Tell Us?

An insider hasn't bought LyondellBasell Industries stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. 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. To assist with this, we've discovered 2 warning signs that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of LyondellBasell Industries.

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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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