Insiders At Coca-Cola HBC Sold €7.1m In Stock, Alluding To Potential Weakness

Many Coca-Cola HBC AG (LON:CCH) 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, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

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Coca-Cola HBC Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Mourad Ajarti, for UK£1.2m worth of shares, at about UK£34.34 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of UK£38.78, 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. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. This single sale was just 45% of Mourad Ajarti's stake.

All up, insiders sold more shares in Coca-Cola HBC than they bought, over the last year. 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!

See our latest analysis for Coca-Cola HBC

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Insiders At Coca-Cola HBC Have Sold Stock Recently

The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Coca-Cola HBC shares. In total, insiders sold UK£2.0m worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.

Does Coca-Cola HBC Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. 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's great to see that Coca-Cola HBC insiders own 1.8% of the company, worth about UK£249m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Coca-Cola HBC Tell Us?

Insiders sold Coca-Cola HBC shares recently, but they didn't buy any. Despite some insider buying, the longer term picture doesn't make us feel much more positive. But it is good to see that Coca-Cola HBC is growing earnings. 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. 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 Coca-Cola HBC has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

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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 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.