Anyone interested in USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (NYSE:USNA) should probably be aware that the Chief People Officer, Paul Jones, recently divested US$240k worth of shares in the company, at an average price of US$38.38 each. In particular, we note that the sale equated to a 100% reduction in their position size, which doesn't exactly instill confidence.

USANA Health Sciences Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Myron Wentz, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$713k worth of shares at a price of US$47.79 each. 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$39.14. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

USANA Health Sciences insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

I will like USANA Health Sciences better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. USANA Health Sciences insiders own 42% of the company, currently worth about US$303m based on the recent share price. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About USANA Health Sciences Insiders?

Insiders sold USANA Health Sciences shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about 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. When we did our research, we found 2 warning signs for USANA Health Sciences (1 is potentially serious!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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.

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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.