Insider Sellers Might Regret Selling Herc Holdings Shares at a Lower Price Than Current Market Value

Herc Holdings Inc.'s (NYSE:HRI) value has fallen 12% in the last week, but insiders who sold US$22m worth of stock over the last year have had less success. Insiders would probably have been better off holding on to their shares given that the average selling price of US$203 is still lower than the current share price.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Herc Holdings

The President, Lawrence Silber, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$11m worth of shares at a price of US$246 each. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$122. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Insiders in Herc Holdings didn't buy any shares in the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

See our latest analysis for Herc Holdings

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Insider Ownership Of Herc Holdings

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Herc Holdings insiders own about US$46m worth of shares. That equates to 1.3% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Do The Herc Holdings Insider Transactions Indicate?

The fact that there have been no Herc Holdings insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. Our analysis of Herc Holdings insider transactions leaves us cautious. But it's good to see that insiders own shares in the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. For example, Herc Holdings has 3 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit unpleasant) we think you should know about.

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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.