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 before you buy or sell Amyris, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRS), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.
What Is Insider Buying?
It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. 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. 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.
See our latest analysis for Amyris
Amyris Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
Independent Director L. Doerr made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$19m worth of shares at a price of US$2.87 each. That implies that an insider found the current price of US$2.97 per share to be enticing. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. If someone buys shares at well below current prices, it’s a good sign on balance, but keep in mind they may no longer see value. Happily, the Amyris insider decided to buy shares at close to current prices. L. Doerr was the only individual insider to buy over the year.
L. Doerr bought a total of 9.56m shares over the year at an average price of US$3.54. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!
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).
Insiders at Amyris Have Sold Stock Recently
Over the last three months, we’ve seen a bit of insider selling at Amyris. Independent Director Patrick Yang divested only US$33k worth of shares in that time. It’s not great to see insider selling, nor the lack of recent buyers. But the selling simply isn’t sufficiently substantial to be of much use as a signal.
Does Amyris Boast High Insider Ownership?
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. It appears that Amyris insiders own 19% of the company, worth about US$59m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it’s enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.
So What Do The Amyris Insider Transactions Indicate?
We did not see any insider buying in the last three months, but we did see selling. But the sales were small, so we’re not concerned. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Insiders do have a stake in Amyris and their transactions don’t cause us concern. Therefore, you should should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Amyris.
If you would prefer to check out another company — one with potentially superior financials — then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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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