Those following along with Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) will no doubt be intrigued by the recent purchase of shares by James Foster, Chairman of the company, who spent a stonking US$1.0m on stock at an average price of US$178. While that only increased their holding size by 2.3%, it is still a big swing by our standards.

Check out our latest analysis for Charles River Laboratories International

Charles River Laboratories International Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Chief Commercial Officer & Corporate Executive VP, William Barbo, sold US$1.3m worth of shares at a price of US$217 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 silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$190). So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 9.87k shares for US$1.9m. On the other hand they divested 7.77k shares, for US$1.7m. In total, Charles River Laboratories International insiders bought more than they sold 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!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Insider Ownership Of Charles River Laboratories International

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by 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 Charles River Laboratories International insiders own 1.1% of the company, worth about US$105m. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Do The Charles River Laboratories International Insider Transactions Indicate?

It is good to see recent purchasing. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. Once you factor in the high insider ownership, it certainly seems like insiders are positive about Charles River Laboratories International. One for the watchlist, at least! While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Charles River Laboratories International you should be aware of.

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 of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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