Have Insiders Been Selling Golden Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:GDEN) Shares This Year?
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It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Golden Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:GDEN).
What Is Insider Selling?
It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. 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'.
Check out our latest analysis for Golden Entertainment
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Golden Entertainment
In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when Director Lyle Berman sold US$3.5m worth of shares at a price of US$24.50 per share. Although we don't gain confidence from insider selling, we note that this large sale was at well above current price of US$14.90. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.
In the last twelve months insiders purchased 16.54k shares for US$233k. But they sold 141.69k for US$3.5m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Golden Entertainment than they bought, over the last year. The average sell price was around US$24.50. Insider selling doesn't make us excited to buy. But we note that the selling, on average, was at well above the recently traded price of US$14.90. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
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. Insiders own 8.1% of Golden Entertainment shares, worth about US$33m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.
So What Does This Data Suggest About Golden Entertainment Insiders?
The fact that there have been no Golden Entertainment insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by Golden Entertainment insiders. But it's good to see that insiders own shares in the company. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Golden Entertainment.
Of course Golden Entertainment may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
