We wouldn't blame Tidewater Inc. (NYSE:TDW) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Samuel Rubio, the Executive VP & CFO recently netted about US$1.6m selling shares at an average price of US$91.56. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 35%, which is notable but not too bad.

Tidewater Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Executive VP & CFO Samuel Rubio was not their only sale of Tidewater shares this year. They previously made an even bigger sale of -US$1.8m worth of shares at a price of US$80.05 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$94.28. 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 37% of Samuel Rubio's holding.

In the last year Tidewater 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. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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Insider Ownership Of Tidewater

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 1.8% of Tidewater shares, worth about US$84m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Tidewater Insiders?

An insider hasn't bought Tidewater stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But since Tidewater is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We're in no rush to buy! 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 Tidewater has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.

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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.