We'd be surprised if Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:PKOH) shareholders haven't noticed that the Chief Legal & Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary, Robert Vilsack, recently sold US$334k worth of stock at US$38.44 per share. On the bright side, that sale was only 4.5% of their holding, so we doubt it's very meaningful, on its own.

Park-Ohio Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Robert Vilsack is the biggest insider sale of Park-Ohio Holdings shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$37.91. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 8.87k shares worth US$178k. On the other hand they divested 32.61k shares, for US$986k. All up, insiders sold more shares in Park-Ohio Holdings than they bought, 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!

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Insider Ownership Of Park-Ohio Holdings

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Park-Ohio Holdings insiders own about US$166m worth of shares (which is 31% of the company). This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Park-Ohio Holdings Tell Us?

Insiders haven't bought Park-Ohio Holdings stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company.

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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.

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.