Some Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE:DAR) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Chairman & CEO, Randall Stuewe, recently sold a substantial US$1.0m worth of stock at a price of US$41.96 per share. However, it's crucial to note that they remain very much invested in the stock and that sale only reduced their holding by 3.9%.

Darling Ingredients Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Chairman & CEO Randall Stuewe was not the only time they sold Darling Ingredients shares this year. Earlier in the year, they fetched US$42.84 per share in a -US$1.5m sale. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$40.13. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$741k for 17.83k shares. But insiders sold 59.96k shares worth US$2.5m. Randall Stuewe divested 59.96k shares over the last 12 months at an average price of US$42.47. 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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Insider Ownership Of Darling Ingredients

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 1.1% of Darling Ingredients shares, worth about US$71m. 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 Do The Darling Ingredients Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We're in no rush to buy! 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. Our analysis shows 3 warning signs for Darling Ingredients (1 is significant!) and we strongly recommend you look at them before investing.

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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.