In the last year, many Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) insiders sold a substantial stake in the company which may have sparked shareholders' attention. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, when multiple insiders sell stock over a specific duration, shareholders should take notice as that could possibly be a red flag.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

View our latest analysis for Waste Management

Waste Management Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The President, James Fish, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$7.4m worth of shares at a price of US$204 each. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$209. 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. 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 11% of James Fish's holding.

In the last year Waste Management insiders didn't buy any company stock. 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!

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.

Waste Management Insiders Are Selling The Stock

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Waste Management. In total, Senior VP & Chief Customer Officer Michael Watson dumped US$1.2m worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the insiders think that the shares are a bargain.

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. Waste Management insiders own 0.2% of the company, currently worth about US$153m 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.