We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. 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 Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN).
What Is Insider Buying?
Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock in the company. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.
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. For example, a Harvard University study found that ‘insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.
Check out our latest analysis for Southwestern Energy
Southwestern Energy Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when President William Way bought US$191k worth of shares at a price of US$1.91 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of US$2.66. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn’t tell us much about whether insiders might find today’s price attractive.
Southwestern Energy insiders may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn’t sell any. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) 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 always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Our data indicates that Southwestern Energy insiders own about US$8.9m worth of shares (which is 0.6% of the company). Whilst better than nothing, we’re not overly impressed by these holdings.
What Might The Insider Transactions At Southwestern Energy Tell Us?
There haven’t been any insider transactions in the last three months — that doesn’t mean much. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. We’d like to see bigger individual holdings. However, we don’t see anything to make us think Southwestern Energy insiders are doubting the company. So while it’s helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it’s also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. To help with this, we’ve discovered 4 warning signs (2 are potentially serious!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in Southwestern Energy.
But note: Southwestern Energy 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.
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, but not derivative transactions.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
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