Potential Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) shareholders may wish to note that the Chief Financial Officer, James Gray, recently bought US$409k worth of stock, paying US$40.92 for each share. We reckon that's a good sign, especially since the purchase boosted their holding by 210%.

Lamb Weston Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Executive Chair Jan Eli B. Craps bought US$2.4m worth of shares at a price of US$48.65 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of US$41.54. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 72.06k shares for US$3.3m. But they sold 1.60k shares for US$100k. Overall, Lamb Weston Holdings insiders were net buyers during the last year. 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!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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. 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 Lamb Weston Holdings insiders own 0.8% of the company, worth about US$48m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Lamb Weston Holdings Tell Us?

The recent insider purchases are heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. Insiders likely see value in Lamb Weston Holdings shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). While it's good to be aware of what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. While conducting our analysis, we found that Lamb Weston Holdings has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

But note: Lamb Weston Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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.