Some Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Senior Vice President of Mountain West, Jerry Perkins, recently sold a substantial US$1.1m worth of stock at a price of US$210 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 31% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

Check out our latest analysis for Vulcan Materials

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Vulcan Materials

Notably, that recent sale by Jerry Perkins is the biggest insider sale of Vulcan Materials shares that we've seen in the last year. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even slightly below the current price of US$211. 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. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. It is worth noting that this sale was only 31% of Jerry Perkins's holding.

Vulcan Materials insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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Does Vulcan Materials Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Vulcan Materials insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about US$48m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Vulcan Materials Tell Us?

Insiders haven't bought Vulcan Materials stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But since Vulcan Materials is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Vulcan Materials. At Simply Wall St, we found 2 warning signs for Vulcan Materials that deserve your attention before buying any shares.

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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.