Are Insiders Selling Keyera Corp. (TSE:KEY) Stock?

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 Keyera Corp. (TSE:KEY), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Selling?

It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

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. 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'.

View our latest analysis for Keyera

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Keyera

The Independent Chairman of the Board, James Bertram, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for CA$1.1m worth of shares at a price of CA$22.30 each. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (CA$26.06). 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. This single sale was just 6.5% of James Bertram's stake.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 58.14k shares worth CA$870k. On the other hand they divested 110.00k shares, for CA$2.4m. In total, Keyera insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and 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!

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

Are Keyera Insiders Buying Or Selling?

There was only a small bit of insider buying, worth CA$906, in the last three months. So it is hard to draw any conclusion about how insiders are feeling about the stock, from these recent trades.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Keyera insiders own 0.6% of the company, worth about CA$37m. 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 Keyera Insider Transactions Indicate?

We note a that there has been a bit of insider buying recently (but no selling). Overall the buying isn't worth writing home about. Still, the insider transactions at Keyera in the last 12 months are not very heartening. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 5 warning signs for Keyera (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) you should know about.

But note: Keyera 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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