Yahoo Finance Iain Ross Is The Executive Chairman of Silence Therapeutics plc (LON:SLN) And They Just Picked Up 55% More Shares
Even if it's not a huge purchase, we think it was good to see that Iain Ross, the Executive Chairman of Silence Therapeutics plc (LON:SLN) recently shelled out UK£74k to buy stock, at UK£4.70 per share. Even though that isn't a massive buy, it did increase their holding by 55%, which is a arguably a good sign.
View our latest analysis for Silence Therapeutics
Silence Therapeutics Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Notably, that recent purchase by Iain Ross is the biggest insider purchase of Silence Therapeutics shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that even when the share price was higher than UK£4.53 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares is very important. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.
While Silence Therapeutics insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. They paid about UK£2.66 on average. To my mind it is good that insiders have invested their own money in the company. However, we do note that they were buying at significantly lower prices than today's share price. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Does Silence Therapeutics 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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It's great to see that Silence Therapeutics insiders own 40% of the company, worth about UK£149m. I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.
So What Do The Silence Therapeutics Insider Transactions Indicate?
The recent insider purchase is heartening. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But on the other hand, the company made a loss during the last year, which makes us a little cautious. Along with the high insider ownership, this analysis suggests that insiders are quite bullish about Silence Therapeutics. That's what I like to see! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. When we did our research, we found 3 warning signs for Silence Therapeutics (1 is significant!) that we believe deserve your full attention.
Of course Silence Therapeutics may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality 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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