Insiders At Blackstone Sold US$11m In Stock, Alluding To Potential Weakness
In the last year, many Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) insiders sold a substantial stake in the company which may have sparked shareholders' attention. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.
While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.
See our latest analysis for Blackstone
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Blackstone
The Chief Legal Officer, John Finley, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$6.3m worth of shares at a price of US$128 each. That means that even when the share price was slightly below the current price of US$129, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. This single sale was just 37% of John Finley's stake.
Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 5.42k shares worth US$639k. But they sold 98.27k shares for US$11m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Blackstone shares, than buying. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and 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!
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Insiders At Blackstone Have Bought Stock Recently
We saw some Blackstone insider buying shares in the last three months. insider Ruth Porat shelled out US$33k for shares in that time. It's good to see the insider buying, as well as the lack of recent sellers. But the amount invested in the last three months isn't enough for us too put much weight on it, as a single factor.
Insider Ownership Of Blackstone
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. It's great to see that Blackstone insiders own 0.2% of the company, worth about US$385m. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.
So What Do The Blackstone Insider Transactions Indicate?
Insider purchases may have been minimal, in the last three months, but there was no selling at all. Overall the buying isn't worth writing home about. It's great to see high levels of insider ownership, but looking back over the last year, we'd need to see more buying to gain confidence from the Blackstone insider transactions. While it's good to be aware of what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. For example, Blackstone has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit unpleasant) we think you should know about.
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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 of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.
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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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