Many Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) 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, when multiple insiders sell stock over a specific duration, shareholders should take notice as that could possibly be a red flag.

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.

Weatherford International Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the President, Girishchandra Saligram, for US$6.2m worth of shares, at about US$105 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$116, 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. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. It is worth noting that this sale was only 6.5% of Girishchandra Saligram's holding.

Insiders in Weatherford International didn't buy any shares in the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Insiders At Weatherford International Have Sold Stock Recently

The last three months saw significant insider selling at Weatherford International. In total, Independent Non-Executive Chairman of the Board Charles Sledge dumped US$1.2m 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.

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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It's great to see that Weatherford International insiders own 1.9% of the company, worth about US$161m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Weatherford International Insiders?

An insider sold Weatherford International shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But it is good to see that Weatherford International is growing earnings. The company boasts high insider ownership, but we're a little hesitant, given the history of share sales. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. While conducting our analysis, we found that Weatherford International has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore them.

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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.