Have Insiders Been Selling Aus Tin Mining Limited (ASX:ANW) Shares?

We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. 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 Aus Tin Mining Limited (ASX:ANW).

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, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. 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 Aus Tin Mining

Aus Tin Mining Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the insider, Karl Hamann, sold AU$180k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.001 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even slightly below the current price of AU$0.001. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. We note that the biggest single sale was 66% of Karl Hamann's holding. Karl Hamann was the only individual insider to sell over the last year.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 26.28m shares worth AU$26k. But they sold 180.00m shares for AU$180k. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and 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!

I will like Aus Tin Mining better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Does Aus Tin Mining Boast High 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. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Our data indicates that Aus Tin Mining insiders own about AU$552k worth of shares (which is 5.5% of the company). But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. Whilst better than nothing, we're not overly impressed by these holdings.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Aus Tin Mining Tell Us?

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 Aus Tin Mining insiders. And we're not picking up on high enough insider ownership to give us any comfort. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. For instance, we've identified 6 warning signs for Aus Tin Mining (5 don't sit too well with us) you should be aware of.

But note: Aus Tin Mining 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.

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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.
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