Have Insiders Sold Associated British Foods plc (LON:ABF) Shares Recently?

Some Associated British Foods plc (LON:ABF) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the CEO & Executive Director , George Weston, recently sold a substantial UK£5.0m worth of stock at a price of UK£22.78 per share. However, it's crucial to note that they remain very much invested in the stock and that sale only reduced their holding by 6.0%.

See our latest analysis for Associated British Foods

Associated British Foods Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by George Weston was the biggest sale of Associated British Foods shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of UK£22.94. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 12.00k shares for UK£223k. But insiders sold 217.64k shares worth UK£5.0m. 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 Associated British Foods better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Does Associated British Foods Boast High 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. Associated British Foods insiders own 0.6% of the company, currently worth about UK£113m based on the recent share price. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Do The Associated British Foods Insider Transactions Indicate?

Unfortunately, there has been more insider selling of Associated British Foods stock, than buying, in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Associated British Foods. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Associated British Foods and we suggest you have a look.

Of course Associated British Foods 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, but not derivative transactions.

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