The fact that multiple Forestar Group Inc. (NYSE:FOR) insiders offloaded a considerable amount of shares over the past year could have raised some eyebrows amongst investors. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying versus if they selling is usually more beneficial, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

Forestar Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Consultant, Daniel Bartok, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$617k worth of shares at a price of US$31.12 each. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$40.75, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. This single sale was just 30% of Daniel Bartok's stake.

Forestar Group insiders didn't buy any shares over 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 the share price, individual, and the date!

I will like Forestar Group better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership Of Forestar Group

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Our data indicates that Forestar Group insiders own about US$9.0m worth of shares (which is 0.5% of the company). We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

So What Do The Forestar Group Insider Transactions Indicate?

The fact that there have been no Forestar Group insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by Forestar Group insiders. And we're not picking up on high enough insider ownership to give us any comfort. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Forestar Group.

But note: Forestar Group 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.

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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.