Many Kontoor Brands, Inc. (NYSE:KTB) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company's shareholders. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying versus if they selling is usually more beneficial, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

Kontoor Brands Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Executive VP, Christopher Waldeck, for US$747k worth of shares, at about US$51.03 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$58.34, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. We note that the biggest single sale was only 14% of Christopher Waldeck's holding.

In the last year Kontoor Brands insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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Insiders At Kontoor Brands Have Sold Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Kontoor Brands. Specifically, insider Susan Sumner ditched US$211k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the insiders think that the shares are a bargain.

Insider Ownership

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Kontoor Brands insiders own about US$53m worth of shares. That equates to 1.6% of the company. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Kontoor Brands Insiders?

An insider hasn't bought Kontoor Brands stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. 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. While conducting our analysis, we found that Kontoor Brands has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

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

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.