Bullish Sonoco Products Insiders Loaded Up On US$3.33m Of Stock
Over the last year, a good number of insiders have significantly increased their holdings in Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON). This is encouraging because it indicates that insiders are more optimistic about the company’s prospects.
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.
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when President Robert Coker bought US$930k worth of shares at a price of US$46.48 per share. That implies that an insider found the current price of US$47.55 per share to be enticing. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. While we always like to see insider buying, it’s less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. Happily, the Sonoco Products insiders decided to buy shares at close to current prices.
In the last twelve months insiders purchased 74.72k shares for US$3.3m. But insiders sold 13.66k shares worth US$699k. Overall, Sonoco Products insiders were net buyers during the last year. 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!
Check out our latest analysis for Sonoco Products
There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 1.1% of Sonoco Products shares, worth about US$53m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it’s enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.
The fact that there have been no Sonoco Products insider transactions recently certainly doesn’t bother us. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Insiders do have a stake in Sonoco Products and their transactions don’t cause us concern. So while it’s helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it’s also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. Our analysis shows 4 warning signs for Sonoco Products (2 are concerning!) and we strongly recommend you look at these before investing.
If you would prefer to check out another company — one with potentially superior financials — then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.
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.