We wouldn't blame Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. (NYSE:MEC) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Ryan Raber, the Executive Vice President of Strategy recently netted about US$520k selling shares at an average price of US$26.00. That sale reduced their total holding by 15% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Mayville Engineering Company

In fact, the recent sale by Ryan Raber was the biggest sale of Mayville Engineering Company shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even slightly below the current price of US$26.11. 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. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. We note that the biggest single sale was only 15% of Ryan Raber's holding.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$132k for 9.40k shares. But insiders sold 58.20k shares worth US$1.2m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Mayville Engineering Company shares, than buying. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Insider Ownership Of Mayville Engineering Company

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Mayville Engineering Company insiders own about US$52m worth of shares. That equates to 7.3% of the company. 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 Does This Data Suggest About Mayville Engineering Company Insiders?

Insiders sold Mayville Engineering Company shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company.

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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.