Over the past year, many The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) insiders sold a significant stake in the company which may have piqued investors' interest. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Check out our latest analysis for Home Depot

Home Depot Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the insider, John Deaton, for US$5.5m worth of shares, at about US$363 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of US$430. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. This single sale was 62% of John Deaton's stake.

Home Depot 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 click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

For those who like to find hidden gems this free list of small cap companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insiders At Home Depot Have Sold Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Home Depot. In total, insiders dumped US$334k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.

Does Home Depot 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. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Home Depot insiders own about US$324m worth of shares (which is 0.08% of the company). This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.