Have Insiders Been Selling SunLink Health Systems, Inc. (NYSEMKT:SSY) Shares This Year?

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We’ve lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. 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 before you buy or sell SunLink Health Systems, Inc. (NYSEMKT:SSY), 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, 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 it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Harvard University study found that ‘insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.’

View our latest analysis for SunLink Health Systems

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At SunLink Health Systems

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by Director Steven Baileys for US$150k worth of shares, at about US$1.60 per share. That is hardly a positive sign, even though it took place above the latest price (US$1.06). So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

In the last twelve months insiders netted US$391k for 253.06k shares sold. In total, SunLink Health Systems insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. The sellers received a price of around US$1.54, on average. Insider selling doesn’t make us excited to buy. But the selling was at much higher prices than the current share price (US$1.06), so it probably doesn’t tell us a lot about the value on offer today. You can see the insider transactions 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!

AMEX:SSY Insider Trading December 21st 18
AMEX:SSY Insider Trading December 21st 18

I will like SunLink Health Systems better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Does SunLink Health Systems Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. SunLink Health Systems insiders own about US$2.2m worth of shares (which is 28% of the company). This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Do The SunLink Health Systems Insider Transactions Indicate?

The fact that there have been no SunLink Health Systems insider transactions recently certainly doesn’t bother us. Our analysis of SunLink Health Systems insider transactions leaves us cautious. But it’s good to see that insiders own shares in the company. Along with insider transactions, I recommend checking if SunLink Health Systems is growing revenue. This free chart of historic revenue and earnings should make that easy.

Of course SunLink Health Systems may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

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.

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