Looking at Darling Ingredients Inc.'s (NYSE:DAR ) insider transactions over the last year, we can see that insiders were net sellers. That is, there were more number of shares sold by insiders than there were purchased.

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

See our latest analysis for Darling Ingredients

Darling Ingredients Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Chairman & CEO, Randall Stuewe, for US$1.5m worth of shares, at about US$42.84 per share. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$39.37. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern. The only individual insider seller over the last year was Randall Stuewe.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 17.83k shares worth US$741k. But they sold 59.96k shares for US$2.5m. Randall Stuewe divested 59.96k shares over the last 12 months at an average price of US$42.47. 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!

I will like Darling Ingredients better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Darling Ingredients insiders own about US$64m worth of shares. That equates to 1.0% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The Darling Ingredients Insider Transactions Indicate?

The fact that there have been no Darling Ingredients insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. Our analysis of Darling Ingredients insider transactions leaves us cautious. But it's good to see that insiders own shares in the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Darling Ingredients (including 1 which can't be ignored).

Of course Darling Ingredients may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality 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 of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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