We would not blame T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) shareholders if they were a little concerned that Raul Claure, the independent director, recently made about $1.9 million by selling shares at an average price of $197. However, this sale only represented 0.3% of their stake, so it arguably doesn’t say much about their belief.

Check out our latest analysis for T-Mobile US

The last 12 months of insider transactions at T-Mobile US

In fact, the recent sale by independent director Raul Claure was not their only sale of T-Mobile US stock this year. Previously, they had made an even larger sale of -$547 million worth of shares at a price of $180 per share. So it’s clear that an insider wanted to take some money off the table even below the current price of $199. Generally, we consider it discouraging when insiders sell below the current price because it gives the impression that they were happy with a lower valuation. While insider sales are sometimes discouraging, they are only a weak signal. We note that the largest single sale was only 44% of Raul Claure’s shares.

Insiders at T-Mobile US have not purchased any shares in the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including share price, individual, and date!

If you like buying stocks that insiders are buying and not selling, you might like this free List of companies. (Note: most of them fly under the radar).

Insider ownership

For a common shareholder, it’s worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I think it’s a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. T-Mobile US insiders own about $1.1 billion worth of shares (that’s 0.5% of the company). Such significant insider ownership generally increases the chance that the company is being run in the interests of all shareholders.

So what do T-Mobile’s insider transactions mean in the US?

Insiders have been selling shares recently, but they haven’t been buying. And there hasn’t been any buying over the past year that would give us comfort. But since T-Mobile US is profitable and growing, we’re not too concerned about that. It’s good to see a high level of insider ownership, but insider selling makes us cautious. While it’s good to know what’s happening with insider ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider the risks a stock faces before making an investment decision. For example, T-Mobile US has 2 warning signs In our opinion, you should be aware of this.

But please note: T-Mobile US may not be the best stock to buySo take a look at the free List of interesting companies with high return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulator. Currently, we only consider open market transactions and private disposals of direct holdings, but not derivative transactions or indirect holdings.

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