Last week, GATX Corporation's (NYSE:GATX) stock jumped 3.2%, but insiders who sold US$24m worth of stock in over the past year are likely to be in a better position. Selling at an average price of US$118, which is higher than the current price might have been the right call as holding on to stock would have meant their investment would be worth less now than it was at the time of sale.

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.

Check out our latest analysis for GATX

GATX Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Non-Executive Chairman, Brian Kenney, sold US$8.3m worth of shares at a price of US$125 per share. 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$96.04. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

Insiders in GATX didn't buy any shares in the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that GATX insiders own 0.6% of the company, worth about US$20m. 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 GATX Tell Us?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded GATX shares in the last quarter. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by GATX insiders. But it's good to see that insiders own shares in the company. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing GATX. Be aware that GATX is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those can't be ignored...

Of course GATX may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

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.