aTyr Pharma's Market Cap Drops To US$66m Leaving Insiders With Losses
Insiders who bought US$501.6k worth of aTyr Pharma, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:LIFE) stock at an average buy price of US$2.23 over the last year may be disappointed by the recent 13% decrease in the stock. Insiders purchase with the hope of seeing their investments increase in value over time. However, due to recent losses, their initial investment is now only worth US$252.0k, which is not great.
Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.
Check out our latest analysis for aTyr Pharma
aTyr Pharma Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Independent Director Paul Schimmel bought US$450k worth of shares at a price of US$2.25 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of US$1.12. It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.
aTyr Pharma insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Insider Ownership
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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. From our data, it seems that aTyr Pharma insiders own 9.6% of the company, worth about US$6.3m. We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.
So What Do The aTyr Pharma Insider Transactions Indicate?
The fact that there have been no aTyr Pharma insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. While we have no worries about the insider transactions, we'd be more comfortable if they owned more aTyr Pharma stock. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for aTyr Pharma you should be aware of, and 1 of these shouldn't be ignored.
Of course aTyr Pharma may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.
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.
