Anyone interested in Community Trust Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTBI) should probably be aware that the Independent Director, Franky Minnifield, recently divested US$308k worth of shares in the company, at an average price of US$78.85 each. That sale was 16% of their holding, so it does make us raise an eyebrow.

Community Trust Bancorp Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Franky Minnifield was the biggest sale of Community Trust Bancorp shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$78.11. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern.

The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

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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 Community Trust Bancorp insiders own 2.6% of the company, worth about US$37m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The Community Trust Bancorp Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider hasn't bought Community Trust Bancorp stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. On the plus side, Community Trust Bancorp makes money, and is growing profits. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. 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 Community Trust Bancorp has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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.