Some Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:MOH) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, Jeffrey Barlow, recently sold a substantial US$3.3m worth of stock at a price of US$186 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 21% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Molina Healthcare

In fact, the recent sale by Jeffrey Barlow was the biggest sale of Molina Healthcare shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even slightly below the current price of US$187. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent 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. We note that the biggest single sale was only 21% of Jeffrey Barlow's holding.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$1.7m for 10.80k shares. But they sold 20.87k shares for US$4.0m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Molina Healthcare 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. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

I will like Molina Healthcare better if I see some big insider buys.

Insider Ownership Of Molina Healthcare

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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It's great to see that Molina Healthcare insiders own 1.4% of the company, worth about US$144m. 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 Molina Healthcare Tell Us?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. 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. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Molina Healthcare. While conducting our analysis, we found that Molina Healthcare has 3 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

Of course Molina Healthcare 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 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.