By selling US$6.4m worth of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) stock at an average sell price of US$113 over the last year, insiders seemed to have made the most of their holdings. The company's market worth decreased by US$5.8b over the past week after the stock price dropped 3.2%, although insiders were able to minimize their losses

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.

See our latest analysis for Abbott Laboratories

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Abbott Laboratories

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Independent Director, Daniel Starks, for US$5.0m worth of shares, at about US$113 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$101. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

Abbott Laboratories 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 want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Abbott Laboratories Insiders Are Selling The Stock

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Abbott Laboratories. In total, insider Fernando Mateus dumped US$268k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the insiders think that the shares are a bargain.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Abbott Laboratories insiders own 0.7% of the company, currently worth about US$1.3b 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 Do The Abbott Laboratories Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold Abbott Laboratories shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. But since Abbott Laboratories is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. The company boasts high insider ownership, but we're a little hesitant, given the history of share sales. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. While conducting our analysis, we found that Abbott Laboratories has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.