Anyone interested in Integral Ad Science Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:IAS) should probably be aware that the CEO & Director, Lisa Utzschneider, recently divested US$306k worth of shares in the company, at an average price of US$10.05 each. The eyebrow raising move amounted to a reduction of 14% in their holding.

Integral Ad Science Holding Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by CEO & Director Lisa Utzschneider was not their only sale of Integral Ad Science Holding shares this year. Earlier in the year, they fetched US$17.67 per share in a -US$1.1m sale. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$9.74. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

Insiders in Integral Ad Science Holding didn't buy any shares in the last year. 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!

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).

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. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 0.7% of Integral Ad Science Holding shares, worth about US$11m. 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 Integral Ad Science Holding Tell Us?

Insiders sold Integral Ad Science Holding shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. At Simply Wall St, we found 4 warning signs for Integral Ad Science Holding that deserve your attention before buying any shares.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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.