Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Independent Director, D. Koch, recently bought a whopping US$986k worth of stock, at a price of US$89.60. That purchase boosted their holding by 882%, which makes us wonder if the move was inspired by quietly confident deeply-felt optimism.
Xylem Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In fact, the recent purchase by D. Koch was the biggest purchase of Xylem shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of US$96.27. 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. We do always like to see insider buying, but it is worth noting if those purchases were made at well below today's share price, as the discount to value may have narrowed with the rising price. In this case we're pleased to report that the insider purchases were made at close to current prices.
In the last twelve months insiders purchased 12.21k shares for US$1.1m. But they sold 1.12k shares for US$132k. Overall, Xylem insiders were net buyers during the last year. 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!
See our latest analysis for Xylem
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of undervalued small cap companies that insiders are buying.
Does Xylem Boast High Insider Ownership?
Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Xylem insiders own about US$38m worth of shares. That equates to 0.2% 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.
What Might The Insider Transactions At Xylem Tell Us?
The recent insider purchase is heartening. And the longer term insider transactions also give us confidence. Given that insiders also own a fair bit of Xylem we think they are probably pretty confident of a bright future. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in Xylem, you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
But note: Xylem 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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.