Shareholders may not want to ignore the US$1.2m worth sales made by Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC) insiders this past year

Despite a 3.3% gain in Lattice Semiconductor Corporation's (NASDAQ:LSCC) stock price this week, shareholders shouldn't let up. Although prices were relatively low, insiders chose to sell US$1.2m worth of stock in the past 12 months. This could be a sign of impending weakness.

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.

Check out our latest analysis for Lattice Semiconductor

Lattice Semiconductor Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the CFO & Corporate VP, Sherri Luther, for US$866k worth of shares, at about US$45.57 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$89.46). We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. We note that the biggest single sale was only 12% of Sherri Luther's holding.

All up, insiders sold more shares in Lattice Semiconductor than they bought, 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!

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Does Lattice Semiconductor Boast High Insider Ownership?

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Lattice Semiconductor insiders own about US$168m worth of shares (which is 1.4% of the company). I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.

So What Do The Lattice Semiconductor Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Lattice Semiconductor shares in the last quarter. It's heartening that insiders own plenty of stock, but we'd like to see more insider buying, since the last year of Lattice Semiconductor insider transactions don't fill us with confidence. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Lattice Semiconductor.

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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, but not derivative transactions.

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