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Have Insiders Been Selling ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT) Shares?

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It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So before you buy or sell ITT Inc. (NYSE:ITT), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Buying?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

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Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.'

Check out our latest analysis for ITT

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At ITT

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the CEO, President & Director, Luca Savi, for US$2.2m worth of shares, at about US$61.60 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$62.96. As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. This single sale was 100% of Luca Savi's stake.

We note that in the last year insiders divested 44133 shares for a total of US$2.7m. ITT insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by 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!

NYSE:ITT Recent Insider Trading, July 18th 2019
NYSE:ITT Recent Insider Trading, July 18th 2019

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

ITT Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last three months saw significant insider selling at ITT. In total, insiders dumped US$2.7m 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.

Does ITT 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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. ITT insiders own about US$29m worth of shares. That equates to 0.5% of the company. 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 ITT Tell Us?

Insiders haven't bought ITT stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look to the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But it is good to see that ITT is growing earnings. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We're in no rush to buy! Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in ITT, you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

Of course ITT 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 aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.