Have Insiders Been Selling Elevate Credit, Inc. (NYSE:ELVT) Shares This Year?

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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 before you buy or sell Elevate Credit, Inc. (NYSE:ELVT), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

Do Insider Transactions Matter?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.

We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.'

View our latest analysis for Elevate Credit

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Elevate Credit

The Director, Tyler W. Head, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$2.2m worth of shares at a price of US$3.86 each. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$4.23, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. This single sale was just 17.4% of Tyler W. Head's stake. Tyler W. Head was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 53000 shares worth US$237k. On the other hand they divested 915k shares, for US$3.7m. Tyler W. Head divested 915k shares over the last 12 months at an average price of US$4.06. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

Does Elevate Credit Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 19% of Elevate Credit shares, worth about US$36m. 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 Do The Elevate Credit Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Elevate Credit shares in the last quarter. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by Elevate Credit insiders. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Elevate Credit.

But note: Elevate Credit 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.

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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. Thank you for reading.