Kinross Gold Insiders Sold US$32m Of Shares Suggesting Hesitancy

Many Kinross Gold Corporation (TSE:K) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company's shareholders. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

See our latest analysis for Kinross Gold

Kinross Gold Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the CEO & Director, J. Rollinson, sold CA$18m worth of shares at a price of CA$14.00 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (CA$15.99). As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. While insider selling is not a positive sign, we can't be sure if it does mean insiders think the shares are fully valued, so it's only a weak sign. It is worth noting that this sale was only 26% of J. Rollinson's holding.

Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Kinross Gold shares, than buying. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Insiders At Kinross Gold Have Sold Stock Recently

There was substantially more insider selling, than buying, of Kinross Gold shares over the last three months. We note insiders cashed in CA$21m worth of shares. Meanwhile Independent Director George Paspalas bought CA$69k worth , as we said above . Generally this level of net selling might be considered a bit bearish.

Insider Ownership Of Kinross Gold

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 Kinross Gold insiders own 0.6% of the company, worth about CA$120m. 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 Kinross Gold Insider Transactions Indicate?

The stark truth for Kinross Gold is that there has been more insider selling than insider buying in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. On the plus side, Kinross Gold makes money, and is growing profits. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Kinross Gold. At Simply Wall St, we've found that Kinross Gold has 2 warning signs (1 can't be ignored!) that deserve your attention before going any further with your analysis.

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 of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.