Stock Analysis

Intermediate Capital Group Insiders Sell UK£2.7m Of Stock, Possibly Signalling Caution

Published
LSE:ICG

Over the past year, many Intermediate Capital Group plc (LON:ICG) insiders sold a significant stake in the company which may have piqued investors' interest. 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 Intermediate Capital Group

Intermediate Capital Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the CEO, MD, Benoit Laurent Durteste, for UK£2.5m worth of shares, at about UK£13.97 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of UK£21.78. 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. 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. We note that the biggest single sale was only 10% of Benoit Laurent Durteste's holding.

Insiders in Intermediate Capital Group didn't buy any shares in the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and 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!

LSE:ICG Insider Trading Volume May 13th 2024

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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. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Intermediate Capital Group insiders own about UK£41m worth of shares. That equates to 0.7% of the company. 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 Intermediate Capital Group Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Intermediate Capital Group shares in the last quarter. Still, the insider transactions at Intermediate Capital Group in the last 12 months are not very heartening. But it's good to see that insiders own shares in 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. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Intermediate Capital Group you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.

Of course Intermediate Capital Group may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

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.