Executive VP & Chief Commercial Officer John Lauer Just Sold A Bunch Of Shares In Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

We wouldn't blame Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that John Lauer, the Executive VP & Chief Commercial Officer recently netted about US$881k selling shares at an average price of US$63.85. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 38%, which is notable but not too bad.

View our latest analysis for Matson

Matson Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Chairman & CEO, Matthew Cox, sold US$1.0m worth of shares at a price of US$70.48 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$64.04. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

All up, insiders sold more shares in Matson 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 want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

I will like Matson better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 2.5% of Matson shares, worth about US$58m. 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 Does This Data Suggest About Matson Insiders?

Insiders haven't bought Matson stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. But it is good to see that Matson is growing earnings. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. We'd practice some caution before buying! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Be aware that Matson is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is significant...

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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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