Yahoo Finance Read This Before Buying InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (LON:IHG) Shares
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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 we’ll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (LON:IHG).
What Is Insider Selling?
It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.
We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. 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.’
Check out our latest analysis for InterContinental Hotels Group
InterContinental Hotels Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by CFO & Executive Director Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson for UK£729k worth of shares, at about UK£49.47 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of UK£43.66. They might be selling for a variety of reasons, but it’s hard to argue this is a bullish sign. We generally tread carefully if insiders have been selling on market, even if they sold slightly above the current price.
In the last twelve months insiders netted UK£842k for 17.10k shares sold. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of InterContinental Hotels Group shares, than buying. The sellers received a price of around US$49.26, on average. It’s not ideal to see that insiders have sold at around the current price. Since insiders sell for many reasons, we wouldn’t put too much weight on it. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
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Insider Ownership of InterContinental Hotels Group
Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 0.3% of InterContinental Hotels Group shares, worth about UK£22m. We’ve certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.
So What Does This Data Suggest About InterContinental Hotels Group Insiders?
There haven’t been any insider transactions in the last three months — that doesn’t mean much. Our analysis of InterContinental Hotels Group insider transactions leaves us cautious. The modest level of insider ownership is, at least, some comfort. 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.
