It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR).
What Is Insider Selling?
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, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. 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 Ventas
Ventas Insider Transactions Over The Last Year
In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Executive VP & Chief Investment Officer, John Cobb, sold US$725k worth of shares at a price of US$72.54 per share. We generally don’t like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$41.52. So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels. The only individual insider seller over the last year was John Cobb.
You can see the insider transactions (by companies and 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!
I will like Ventas better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.
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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 0.3% of Ventas shares, worth about US$54m. 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 Does This Data Suggest About Ventas Insiders?
There haven’t been any insider transactions in the last three months — that doesn’t mean much. We don’t take much encouragement from the transactions by Ventas insiders. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it’s beneficial to identify the risks facing Ventas. When we did our research, we found 5 warning signs for Ventas (2 are concerning!) that we believe deserve your full attention.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.
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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