Guardant Health Insiders Added US$5.05m Of Stock To Their Holdings
In the last year, multiple insiders have substantially increased their holdings of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) stock, indicating that insiders' optimism about the company's prospects has increased.
While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.
See our latest analysis for Guardant Health
Guardant Health Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Co-CEO & Director AmirAli Talasaz bought US$2.5m worth of shares at a price of US$26.40 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than US$22.27 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. 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.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$5.0m for 193.03k shares. But they sold 13.60k shares for US$405k. In the last twelve months there was more buying than selling by Guardant Health insiders. 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!
Guardant Health is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.
Guardant Health Insiders Are Selling The Stock
Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Guardant Health. In total, Chief Information Officer Kumud Kalia dumped US$144k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.
Insider Ownership Of Guardant Health
For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It's great to see that Guardant Health insiders own 4.1% of the company, worth about US$114m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.
What Might The Insider Transactions At Guardant Health Tell Us?
An insider hasn't bought Guardant Health stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. But we take heart from prior transactions. On top of that, insiders own a significant portion of the company. So the recent selling doesn't worry us. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Guardant Health and we suggest you have a look.
But note: Guardant Health 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.
