Anyone interested in Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN) should probably be aware that the VP, General Counsel & Secretary, Gregory Chemnitz, recently divested US$316k worth of shares in the company, at an average price of US$105 each. The eyebrow raising move amounted to a reduction of 16% in their holding.
Materion Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the CEO, President & Director, Jugal Vijayvargiya, for US$2.2m worth of shares, at about US$113 per share. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of US$109. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. We note that this sale took place at around the current price, so it isn't a major concern, though it's hardly a good sign.
Materion 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. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
See our latest analysis for Materion
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Does Materion Boast High Insider Ownership?
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Materion insiders own about US$26m worth of shares. That equates to 1.2% 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.
So What Does This Data Suggest About Materion Insiders?
Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. We're in no rush to buy! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. You'd be interested to know, that we found 3 warning signs for Materion and we suggest you have a look.
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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 of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.
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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.