Have Seabridge Gold Inc. (TSE:SEA) Insiders Been Selling Their Stock?

Investors may wish to note that the Senior Vice President of Environmental Affairs of Seabridge Gold Inc., Robert Murphy, recently netted CA$75k from selling stock, receiving an average price of CA$18.64. However we note that the sale only shrunk their holding by 6.9%.

View our latest analysis for Seabridge Gold

Seabridge Gold Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Chairman & CEO, Rudi Fronk, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for CA$1.4m worth of shares at a price of CA$18.30 each. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (CA$19.97). 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. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. It is worth noting that this sale was only 7.2% of Rudi Fronk's holding.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 20.40k shares for CA$266k. On the other hand they divested 132666 shares, for CA$2.3m. All up, insiders sold more shares in Seabridge Gold than they bought, over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by 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!

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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. It appears that Seabridge Gold insiders own 3.5% of the company, worth about CA$46m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Seabridge Gold Tell Us?

It is good to see recent purchasing. On the other hand the transaction history, over the last year, isn't so positive. While recent transactions indicate confidence in Seabridge Gold, insiders don't own enough of the company to overcome our cautiousness about the longer term transactions. So they seem pretty well aligned, overall. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. In terms of investment risks, we've identified 3 warning signs with Seabridge Gold and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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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.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

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