Yahoo Finance Did The Citadel Group Limited (ASX:CGL) Insiders Sell Shares?
We’ve lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. 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 The Citadel Group Limited (ASX:CGL).
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.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Harvard University study found that ‘insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.’
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Citadel Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by Deputy Chairman Miles Jakeman for AU$6.9m worth of shares, at about AU$7.45 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of AU$8.20, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. Even though it doesn’t necessarily mean anything, that’s certainly not a positive sign, in our book. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling on market, especially if they did so below the current price. Please note, however, that this single sale was just 10.5% of Miles Jakeman’s stake.
We note that in the last year insiders divested 1.55m shares for a total of AU$12m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Citadel Group shares, than buying. They sold for an average price of about AU$7.45. We don’t gain much confidence from insider selling near the recent share price. But we don’t put too much weight on the insider selling, since sellers could have personal reasons. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!
I will like Citadel Group 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 of Citadel Group
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. Insiders own 29% of Citadel Group shares, worth about AU$118m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.
So What Does This Data Suggest About Citadel Group Insiders?
There haven’t been any insider transactions in the last three months — that doesn’t mean much. It’s great to see high levels of insider ownership, but looking back at the last year, we don’t gain confidence from the Citadel Group insiders selling. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Citadel Group.
But note: Citadel Group may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
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.
