Yahoo Finance Great news for Abcam plc (LON:ABC): Insiders acquired stock in large numbers last year
It is usually uneventful when a single insider buys stock. However, When quite a few insiders buy shares, as it happened in Abcam plc's (LON:ABC) case, it's fantastic news for shareholders.
Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.
See our latest analysis for Abcam
Abcam Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the CEO & Executive Director, Alan Hirzel, sold UK£94k worth of shares at a price of UK£15.36 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is UK£11.83. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price. Alan Hirzel was the only individual insider to sell over the last year.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK£182k for 12.65k shares. But they sold 6.14k shares for UK£94k. In total, Abcam insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
Abcam is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Does Abcam Boast High 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. It's great to see that Abcam insiders own 6.9% of the company, worth about UK£188m. 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 Abcam Insider Transactions Indicate?
There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. It would be great to see more insider buying, but overall it seems like Abcam insiders are reasonably well aligned (owning significant chunk of the company's shares) and optimistic for the future. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Abcam. While conducting our analysis, we found that Abcam has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.
For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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