Yahoo Finance Have Insiders Been Selling Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc (LON:SPX) Shares?
It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. On the other hand, we’d be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc (LON:SPX).
What Is Insider Buying?
It’s quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.
We don’t think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. As Peter Lynch said, ‘insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.’
See our latest analysis for Spirax-Sarco Engineering
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Spirax-Sarco Engineering
In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when Executive Director & Executive Director of Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group James Whalen sold UK£486k worth of shares at a price of UK£56.98 per share. So it’s clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of UK£63.15. While their view may have changed since they sold, this isn’t a particularly bullish sign. When an insider sells below the current price, it does tend to make us wonder about the current valuation. We note that the biggest single sale was only 20.2% of James Whalen’s holding.
Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK£428k for 6.76k shares. But they sold 15.39k for UK£881k. In total, Spirax-Sarco Engineering insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. They sold for an average price of about UK£57.29. We don’t gain much confidence from insider selling near the recent share price. While some insiders have decided to take some money off the table, we wouldn’t put too much weight on this fact. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Insiders at Spirax-Sarco Engineering Have Bought Stock Recently
Over the last three months, we’ve seen significant insider buying at Spirax-Sarco Engineering. Independent Non-Executive Director G. Schoolenberg spent UK£59k on stock, and there wasn’t any selling. This makes one think the business has some good points.
Does Spirax-Sarco Engineering Boast High Insider Ownership?
I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It’s great to see that Spirax-Sarco Engineering insiders own 0.1% of the company, worth about UK£5.9m. 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 Spirax-Sarco Engineering Insider Transactions Indicate?
The recent insider purchase is heartening. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. The transactions over the last year don’t give us confidence, and nor does the fairly low insider ownership, but at least the recent buying is a positive. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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.
