Are Insiders Selling Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) Stock?
It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So we’ll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL).
What Is Insider Selling?
It’s quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.
We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. As Peter Lynch said, ‘insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.’
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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Colgate-Palmolive
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by Franck Moison for US$1.0m worth of shares, at about US$70.67 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$61.61. While their view may have changed since the sale, this is not a particularly positive fact. Arguably, insider selling at around current prices should give us reason to reflect on whether the stock is fully valued at the moment.
We note that in the last year insiders divested 21.56k shares for a total of US$1.5m. In total, Colgate-Palmolive insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. The sellers received a price of around US$70.17, on average. It’s not particularly great to see insiders were selling shares around current prices. But we don’t put too much weight on the insider selling, since sellers could have personal reasons. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Insider Ownership of Colgate-Palmolive
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It’s great to see that Colgate-Palmolive insiders own 0.4% of the company, worth about US$222m. 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 Does This Data Suggest About Colgate-Palmolive Insiders?
It doesn’t really mean much that no insider has traded Colgate-Palmolive shares in the last quarter. While we feel good about high insider ownership of Colgate-Palmolive, we can’t say the same about the selling of shares. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Colgate-Palmolive.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
