CDW Corporation (NASDAQ:CDW) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Independent Director, David Nelms, recently bought a whopping US$2.0m worth of stock, at a price of US$111. That increased their holding by a full 55%, which arguably implies the sort of confidence required for a shy sweet-natured nerd to ask the most popular kid in the school to go out on a date.

CDW Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent purchase by David Nelms was the biggest purchase of CDW shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (US$125), we still think insider buying is a positive. While it does suggest insiders consider the stock undervalued at lower prices, this transaction doesn't tell us much about what they think of current prices.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 22.83k shares for US$2.5m. But insiders sold 7.40k shares worth US$1.1m. Overall, CDW insiders were net buyers during the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

CDW is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of under-the-radar companies with insider buying.

Does CDW Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It appears that CDW insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about US$39m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At CDW Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest CDW insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low. 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. While conducting our analysis, we found that CDW has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.

But note: CDW may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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.

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.