These Companies’ Top Executives Are Selling Shares; Should Investors be Concerned?

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW) saw three executives sell shares last week, while the insider buying activity has been practically non-existent in the past few years. Chief Commercial Officer and Senior Vice President Chris O’Brien unloaded 7,780 shares on Friday at a price of $66.96 per share, cutting his stake to 49,646 shares. Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President John P. Wiehoff sold 44,382 shares on Friday at prices varying from $66.82 to $67.96 per share, reducing his total stake to 760,884 shares. Vice President of Human Resources Angela K. Freeman offloaded 2,225 shares last Monday at a weighted average price of $64.88 and currently holds 30,521 units of common stock.

The shares of the provider of transportation services and logistics solutions are 12% in the green year-to-date, but they are down by 2% over the past year. The recent insider selling comes after the company reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full 2015 year, which were quite well received by the market. The logistics services provider generated revenue of $13.48 billion last year, compared to $13.47 billion reported for 2014. Meanwhile, its diluted earnings per share totaled $3.51 for 2015, up from $3.05 per share generated for 2014. The company’s financial performance was boosted by higher truckload net revenue margins, which were positively affected by lower fuel costs. Nonetheless, the company seems to have a rich valuation at the moment if bearing in mind its forward P/E multiple of 17.23, which sits above the average of 15.87 for the companies included in the S&P 500 Index. Donald Yacktman’s Yacktman Asset Management cut its position in C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ:CHRW) by 1.89 million shares during the October-to-December period, ending the quarter and year with 3.10 million shares.