Have Insiders Sold Hilton Food Group Shares Recently?

We'd be surprised if Hilton Food Group plc (LON:HFG) shareholders haven't noticed that the Non-Executive Chairman, Robert Watson, recently sold UK£122k worth of stock at UK£9.31 per share. However, the silver lining is that the sale only reduced their total holding by 7.9%, so we're hesitant to read anything much into it, on its own.

View our latest analysis for Hilton Food Group

Hilton Food Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Non-Executive Chairman Robert Watson was not the only time they sold Hilton Food Group shares this year. They previously made an even bigger sale of -UK£401k worth of shares at a price of UK£7.30 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (UK£8.97). 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. 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 33% of Robert Watson's stake.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 30.76k shares worth UK£264k. But they sold 70.36k shares for UK£543k. All up, insiders sold more shares in Hilton Food Group 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!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of small cap stocks that are not only being bought by insiders but also have attractive valuations.

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Hilton Food Group insiders own about UK£77m worth of shares. That equates to 9.5% 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 Hilton Food Group Insider Transactions Indicate?

It is good to see recent purchasing. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. The more recent transactions are a positive, but Hilton Food Group insiders haven't shown the sustained enthusiasm that we look for, although they do own a decent number of shares, overall. So they seem pretty well aligned, overall. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. To assist with this, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Hilton Food Group.

But note: Hilton Food 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.