Over the last year, a good number of insiders have significantly increased their holdings in Envista Holdings Corporation (NYSE:NVST). This is encouraging because it indicates that insiders are more optimistic about the company's prospects.

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 Envista Holdings

The CEO & Director Paul Keel made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$506k worth of shares at a price of US$16.87 each. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (US$22.29), we still think insider buying is a positive. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.

Envista Holdings insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that Envista Holdings insiders own 0.3% of the company, worth about US$13m. 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 Envista Holdings Tell Us?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Envista Holdings shares in the last quarter. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Insiders own shares in Envista Holdings and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Envista Holdings.

But note: Envista Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

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.