Insider Sell: Carolyn Herzog Sells 3,941 Shares of Elastic NV (ESTC)
On September 12, 2023, Carolyn Herzog, Chief Legal Officer of Elastic NV (NYSE:ESTC), sold 3,941 shares of the company. This move is part of a series of transactions made by the insider over the past year, during which Herzog has sold a total of 10,770 shares and made no purchases.
Carolyn Herzog is a key figure in Elastic NV, serving as the company's Chief Legal Officer. In this role, she oversees all legal matters, including corporate governance, intellectual property, litigation, and securities compliance. Her decisions and actions can significantly impact the company's operations and, consequently, its stock performance.
Elastic NV is a company that specializes in making data usable in real time and at scale for search, logging, security, and analytics use cases. Founded in 2012, the company develops the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, and Logstash), Elastic Cloud, and Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE). These products are used by many Fortune 500 companies, driving significant revenue and growth for the company.
The insider's recent sell-off is part of a broader trend within Elastic NV. Over the past year, there have been 23 insider sells and no insider buys. This could potentially signal a lack of confidence in the company's future performance among its top executives. However, it's also important to consider other factors, such as the insider's personal financial situation and the company's current valuation.
On the day of the insider's recent sell, shares of Elastic NV were trading for $77.97, giving the company a market cap of $7.73 billion. This price represents a significant discount to the company's GuruFocus Value of $118.81, suggesting that the stock is significantly undervalued.
The GuruFocus Value is an estimate of the stock's intrinsic value based on historical multiples, a GuruFocus adjustment factor, and future business performance estimates from Morningstar analysts. With a price-to-GF-Value ratio of 0.66, Elastic NV's stock appears to be a potentially attractive investment opportunity.
However, the insider's recent sell-off could be a cause for concern. It's often said that insiders sell their shares for many reasons, but they buy them for only one: they believe the price will rise. The absence of insider buys at Elastic NV over the past year could be a red flag for potential investors.
In conclusion, while Elastic NV's stock appears to be undervalued based on its GuruFocus Value, the recent insider sell-off and the lack of insider buys over the past year could be a cause for concern. Potential investors should carefully consider these factors before making a decision.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
