Some United Natural Foods, Inc. (NYSE:UNFI) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the President of Natural, Mark P. Bushway, recently sold a substantial US$516k worth of stock at a price of US$51.56 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 31% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

United Natural Foods Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Mark P. Bushway was the biggest sale of United Natural Foods shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place 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$45.68. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

In the last year United Natural Foods insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that United Natural Foods insiders own 1.9% of the company, worth about US$52m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At United Natural Foods Tell Us?

An insider sold United Natural Foods shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. 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.