Yahoo Finance Read This Before Selling Ascential plc (LON:ASCL) Shares
We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So we’ll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Ascential plc (LON:ASCL).
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, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.
We don’t think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Columbia University study found that ‘insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers’.
Check out our latest analysis for Ascential
Ascential Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Director Duncan Painter for UK£178k worth of shares, at about UK£4.28 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price. 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. That purchase may suggest an expectation of positive returns over the long term. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Duncan Painter.
The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
I will like Ascential better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.
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. I reckon it’s a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 1.2% of Ascential shares, worth about UK£18m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.
What Might The Insider Transactions At Ascential Tell Us?
The fact that there have been no Ascential insider transactions recently certainly doesn’t bother us. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Overall we don’t see anything to make us think Ascential insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. 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 Ascential 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.
