Those following along with Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV) will no doubt be intrigued by the recent purchase of shares by Gail Boudreaux, President of the company, who spent a stonking US$2.1m on stock at an average price of US$287. While that only increased their holding size by 6.0%, it is still a big swing by our standards.

Elevance Health Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Executive VP & President of Commercial Health Benefits, Charles Kendrick, sold US$3.2m worth of shares at a price of US$432 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$277). So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Elevance Health shares, than buying. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Insider Ownership

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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Elevance Health insiders own about US$73m worth of shares. That equates to 0.1% of the company. 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 Elevance Health Insiders?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. But we can't say the same for the transactions over the last 12 months. The more recent transactions are a positive, but Elevance Health insiders haven't shown the sustained enthusiasm that we look for, although they do own a decent number of shares, overall. Overall they seem reasonably aligned. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Elevance Health.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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.