Have Insiders Been Buying Benitec Biopharma Limited (ASX:BLT) Shares This Year?
It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. On the other hand, we’d be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So before you buy or sell Benitec Biopharma Limited (ASX:BLT), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.
What Is Insider Buying?
Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.
We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Columbia University study found that ‘insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers’.
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Benitec Biopharma Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Non-Executive Director J. Buchi bought AU$100k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.17 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher, an insider wanted to purchase shares. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. That purchase may suggest an expectation of positive returns over the long term.
In the last twelve months insiders paid AU$153k for 898.76k shares purchased. In total, Benitec Biopharma insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. The average buy price was around AU$0.17. These transactions suggest that insiders have considered the current price of AU$0.10 attractive. The chart below shows insider transactions (by 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!
If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Insider Ownership
Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. I reckon it’s a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Our data suggests Benitec Biopharma insiders own 2.9% of the company, worth about AU$760k. We prefer to see high levels of insider ownership.
So What Does This Data Suggest About Benitec Biopharma Insiders?
It doesn’t really mean much that no insider has traded Benitec Biopharma shares in the last quarter. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. The transactions are fine but it’d be more encouraging if Benitec Biopharma insiders bought more shares in the company. I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.
But note: Benitec Biopharma 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.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
