Quite a few Trinity Industries, Inc. (NYSE:TRN) insiders sold their shares over the past year, which may be a cause for concern. 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, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

Trinity Industries Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Executive VP & CFO, Eric Marchetto, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$320k worth of shares at a price of US$27.00 each. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of US$24.59. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 13.29k shares worth US$295k. On the other hand they divested 36.16k shares, for US$905k. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Trinity Industries shares, than buying. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart 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: insiders have been buying them).

Trinity Industries Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Trinity Industries shares. In total, Executive VP & CFO Eric Marchetto sold US$320k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the insiders think that the shares are a bargain.

Does Trinity Industries Boast High 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. Trinity Industries insiders own about US$22m worth of shares. That equates to 1.1% of the company. 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 Trinity Industries Tell Us?

An insider sold Trinity Industries shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But it is good to see that Trinity Industries is growing earnings. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. 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. When we did our research, we found 4 warning signs for Trinity Industries (1 can't be ignored!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

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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.