Insiders who acquired US$161k worth of Graham Holdings Company's (NYSE:GHC) stock at an average price of US$576 in the past 12 months may be dismayed by the recent 3.2% price decline. Insiders purchase with the hope of seeing their investments increase in value over time. However, due to recent losses, their initial investment is now only worth US$150k, which is not great.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

Check out our latest analysis for Graham Holdings

Graham Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The VP & Chief Accounting Officer, Marcel Snyman, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$77k worth of shares at a price of US$605 each. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$535. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price. Marcel Snyman was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 280.00 shares for US$161k. On the other hand they divested 128.00 shares, for US$77k. In total, Graham Holdings insiders bought more than they sold 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!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insiders At Graham Holdings Have Bought Stock Recently

It's good to see that Graham Holdings insiders have made notable investments in the company's shares. We can see that Independent Director Thomas Gayner paid US$56k for shares in the company. No-one sold. This makes one think the business has some good points.

Does Graham Holdings Boast High Insider Ownership?

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Graham Holdings insiders own 16% of the company, currently worth about US$407m based on the recent share price. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Graham Holdings Insiders?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Graham Holdings insiders are well aligned, and quite possibly think the share price is too low. That's what I like to see! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. While conducting our analysis, we found that Graham Holdings has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

But note: Graham 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, 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.