Investors who take an interest in Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE:ECVT) should definitely note that the VP & CFO, Michael Feehan, recently paid US$6.28 per share to buy US$101k worth of the stock. While that's a very decent purchase to our minds, it was proportionally a bit modest, boosting their holding by just 4.6%.

Ecovyst Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Independent Director, Susan Ward, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$251k worth of shares at a price of US$10.28 each. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$6.50. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it. Susan Ward was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 33.91k shares for US$240k. On the other hand they divested 24.44k shares, for US$251k. 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 Ecovyst 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 Of Ecovyst

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. Insiders own 2.5% of Ecovyst shares, worth about US$18m. 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 Does This Data Suggest About Ecovyst Insiders?

The recent insider purchases are heartening. But we can't say the same for the transactions over the last 12 months. While recent transactions indicate confidence in Ecovyst, insiders don't own enough of the company to overcome our cautiousness about the longer term transactions. So they seem pretty well aligned, overall. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Ecovyst 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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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.