Some Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Chief Administrative Officer & Global Head of Institutional Client Solutions, Vikrant Sawhney, recently sold a substantial US$4.1m worth of stock at a price of US$136 per share. However, it's crucial to note that they remain very much invested in the stock and that sale only reduced their holding by 4.9%.

Blackstone Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Global Head of Private Equity Strategies & Director, Joseph Baratta, sold US$20m worth of shares at a price of US$176 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$133. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 28.71k shares for US$4.2m. On the other hand they divested 245.36k shares, for US$40m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Blackstone 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 want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of small cap stocks that are not only being bought by insiders but also have attractive valuations.

Insider Ownership Of Blackstone

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. 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's great to see that Blackstone insiders own 0.4% of the company, worth about US$605m. 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 Blackstone Tell Us?

Unfortunately, there has been more insider selling of Blackstone stock, than buying, in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. But it is good to see that Blackstone is growing earnings. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Blackstone.

Of course Blackstone 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.