Many Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) 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.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Avista

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the insider, Mark Thies, sold US$1.9m worth of shares at a price of US$41.45 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$33.08. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$151k for 4.36k shares. On the other hand they divested 58.78k shares, for US$2.4m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Avista than they bought, over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insiders At Avista Have Sold Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Avista. In total, insiders sold US$107k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.

Does Avista Boast High 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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 0.8% of Avista shares, worth about US$21m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Avista Tell Us?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. On the plus side, Avista makes money, and is growing profits. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for Avista you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.

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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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.