This Insider Has Just Sold Shares In Barclays PLC (LON:BARC)

We'd be surprised if Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) shareholders haven't noticed that the Group General Counsel, Robert Hoyt, recently sold UK£112k worth of stock at UK£1.21 per share. However, the silver lining is that the sale only reduced their total holding by 3.2%, so we're hesitant to read anything much into it, on its own.

View our latest analysis for Barclays

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Barclays

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the insider, Ashok Vaswani, for UK£888k worth of shares, at about UK£1.78 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (UK£1.17). So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK£701k for 872.27k shares. On the other hand they divested 821604 shares, for UK£1.3m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Barclays than they bought, over the last year. They sold for an average price of about UK£1.59. It is certainly not great to see that insiders have sold shares in the company. However, we do note that the average sale price was significantly higher than the current share price (which is UK£1.17). 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!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Does Barclays 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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Barclays insiders own 0.1% of the company, worth about UK£20m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Barclays Tell Us?

Insiders haven't bought Barclays stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We're in no rush to buy! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Barclays. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Barclays you should be aware of.

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.

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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. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.