By selling US$227k worth of FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC) stock at an average sell price of US$113 over the last year, insiders seemed to have made the most of their holdings. The company's market valuation decreased by US$859m after the stock price dropped 6.1% over the past week, but insiders were spared from painful losses.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for FMC

FMC Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the VP, Corporate Controller & Chief Accounting Officer, Nicholas Pfeiffer, sold US$120k worth of shares at a price of US$120 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$106). So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels. Nicholas Pfeiffer was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

Nicholas Pfeiffer divested 2.00k shares over the last 12 months at an average price of US$113. 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!

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership Of FMC

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. FMC insiders own about US$50m worth of shares. That equates to 0.4% 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.

So What Does This Data Suggest About FMC Insiders?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded FMC shares in the last quarter. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by FMC insiders. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for FMC you should be aware of.

But note: FMC 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, but not derivative transactions.

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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.