In the last year, many Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) insiders sold a substantial stake in the company which may have sparked shareholders' attention. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more beneficial than knowing whether they are selling, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Delta Air Lines

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the President, Glen Hauenstein, sold US$4.9m worth of shares at a price of US$49.05 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$39.30). So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$1.6m for 40.00k shares. But insiders sold 218.21k shares worth US$10m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Delta Air Lines shares, than buying. They sold for an average price of about US$47.99. We are not joyful about insider selling. However, we do note that the average sale price was significantly higher than the current share price (which is US$39.30). 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!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Insiders At Delta Air Lines Have Bought Stock Recently

It's good to see that Delta Air Lines insiders have made notable investments in the company's shares. We can see that Independent Director Wilfred Chiang paid US$439k for shares in the company. No-one sold. This makes one think the business has some good points.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Delta Air Lines insiders own 0.4% of the company, worth about US$96m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Delta Air Lines Tell Us?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. While recent transactions indicate confidence in Delta Air Lines, 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 these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Delta Air Lines you should know about.

Of course Delta Air Lines may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality 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.