Americold Realty Trust's (NYSE:COLD)) market cap declines to US$7.2b but insiders who sold US$2.1m stock were able to hedge their losses

By selling US$2.1m worth of Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD) stock at an average sell price of US$37.74 over the last year, insiders seemed to have made the most of their holdings. After the stock price dropped 4.4% last week, the company's market value declined by US$333m, but insiders were able to mitigate their losses.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for Americold Realty Trust

Americold Realty Trust Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Independent Trustee, James Heistand, sold US$1.1m worth of shares at a price of US$37.80 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$26.95). So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

All up, insiders sold more shares in Americold Realty Trust than they bought, over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart 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: insiders have been buying them).

Does Americold Realty Trust 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. Americold Realty Trust insiders own about US$19m worth of shares. That equates to 0.3% of the company. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Americold Realty Trust Tell Us?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by Americold Realty Trust insiders. The modest level of insider ownership is, at least, some comfort. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Americold Realty Trust. For example, Americold Realty Trust has 3 warning signs (and 1 which is significant) we think you should know about.

But note: Americold Realty Trust 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, but not derivative transactions.

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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.