Group Chief Executive & Director Of Chemring Group Sold 30% Of Their Shares

Some Chemring Group PLC (LON:CHG) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Group Chief Executive & Director, Michael Ord, recently sold a substantial UK£495k worth of stock at a price of UK£3.58 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 30% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

Check out our latest analysis for Chemring Group

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Chemring Group

In fact, the recent sale by Group Chief Executive & Director Michael Ord was not their only sale of Chemring Group shares this year. Earlier in the year, they fetched UK£3.49 per share in a -UK£669k sale. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of UK£3.60, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent 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. This single sale was just 29% of Michael Ord's stake.

Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Chemring Group shares, than buying. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, 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 Chemring Group 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 Of Chemring Group

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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. From our data, it seems that Chemring Group insiders own 0.5% of the company, worth about UK£4.9m. We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Chemring Group Tell Us?

Insiders sold Chemring Group shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. When you combine this with the relatively low insider ownership, we are very cautious about the stock. So we're not rushing to buy, to say the least. 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. While conducting our analysis, we found that Chemring Group has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

But note: Chemring Group 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 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.