Some The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Founder & Co-Chairman, Charles Schwab, recently sold a substantial US$1.0m worth of stock at a price of US$63.94 per share. However, that sale only accounted for 0.08% of their holding, so arguably it doesn't say much about their conviction.

See our latest analysis for Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Founder & Co-Chairman Charles Schwab was not the only time they sold Charles Schwab shares this year. They previously made an even bigger sale of -US$25m worth of shares at a price of US$80.10 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$64.04). So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$7.9m for 136.68k shares. On the other hand they divested 746.45k shares, for US$58m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Charles Schwab than they bought, over the last year. 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!

I will like Charles Schwab better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Does Charles Schwab Boast High Insider Ownership?

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Charles Schwab insiders own about US$1.7b worth of shares (which is 1.5% of the company). This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Do The Charles Schwab Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders sold Charles Schwab shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Charles Schwab. When we did our research, we found 3 warning signs for Charles Schwab (1 is potentially serious!) 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.