Many Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company’s shareholders. When analyzing insider transactions, it is usually more valuable to know whether insiders are buying versus knowing if they are selling, as the latter sends an ambiguous message. However, when multiple insiders sell stock over a specific duration, shareholders should take notice as that could possibly be a red flag.

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.

See our latest analysis for Apple

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Independent Non-Executive Chairman of the Board, Arthur Levinson, sold US$45m worth of shares at a price of US$229 per share. So it’s clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$243. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don’t know for sure what they think of the stock price. We note that the biggest single sale was only 4.5% of Arthur Levinson’s holding.

Apple insiders didn’t buy any shares over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of small cap stocks that are not only being bought by insiders but also have attractive valuations.

The last three months saw significant insider selling at Apple. Specifically, insiders ditched US$46m worth of shares in that time, and we didn’t record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Apple insiders own about US$2.2b worth of shares (which is 0.06% of the company). Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.