Many American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AXL) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company's shareholders. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

View our latest analysis for American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the insider, Norman Willemse, sold US$533k worth of shares at a price of US$9.00 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$8.11. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

In the last year American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings 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 Of American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 2.3% of American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings shares, worth about US$22m. 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 American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings shares in the last quarter. Our analysis of American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings insider transactions leaves us cautious. But it's good to see that insiders own shares in the company. 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. For example, American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is significant) we think you should know about.

Of course American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings 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.