Have Insiders Been Selling Equiniti Group plc (LON:EQN) Shares This Year?
We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Equiniti Group plc (LON:EQN).
What Is Insider Selling?
It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.
We don’t think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. As Peter Lynch said, ‘insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.’
View our latest analysis for Equiniti Group
Equiniti Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by Group CEO & Director Guy Wakeley for UK£1.1m worth of shares, at about UK£3.01 per share. Although we don’t gain confidence from insider selling, we note that this large sale was at well above current price of UK£2.08. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK£566k for 241.55k shares. But they sold 368.05k for UK£1.1m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Equiniti Group shares, than buying. They sold for an average price of about UK£3.00. We are not joyful about insider selling. But we note that the selling, on average, was at well above the recently traded price of UK£2.08. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
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Insiders at Equiniti Group Have Bought Stock Recently
It’s good to see that Equiniti Group insiders have made notable investments in the company’s shares. Not only was there no selling that we can see, but they collectively bought UK£131k worth of shares. This could be interpreted as suggesting a positive outlook.
Does Equiniti Group Boast High Insider Ownership?
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. From our data, it seems that Equiniti Group insiders own 0.6% of the company, worth about UK£4.2m. Whilst better than nothing, we’re not overly impressed by these holdings.
What Might The Insider Transactions At Equiniti Group Tell Us?
The recent insider purchases are heartening. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. We’re not thrilled with the relatively low insider ownership and the longer term transaction history. But we like the recent purchasing. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Equiniti Group.
If you would prefer to check out another company — one with potentially superior financials — then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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.
