Many Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company’s shareholders. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more beneficial than knowing whether they are selling, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, when multiple insiders sell stock over a specific duration, shareholders should take notice as that could possibly be a red flag.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

See our latest analysis for Meta Platforms

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, for US$3.8m worth of shares, at about US$473 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$605). When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. 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. This single sale was just 9.3% of Andrew Bosworth’s stake.

Insiders in Meta Platforms didn’t buy any shares in the last year. 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 hidden gems this free list of small cap companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Meta Platforms shares. In total, Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth sold US$2.9m worth of shares in that time, and we didn’t record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it’s not the be all and end all.

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by 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. It’s great to see that Meta Platforms insiders own 14% of the company, worth about US$209b. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.