Keep An Eye On Tristel As Insider Stock Selling Hits UK£812k

Despite the fact that Tristel plc (LON:TSTL) stock rose 12% last week, insiders who sold UK£812k worth of stock in the previous 12 months are likely to be better off. Holding on to stock would have meant their investment would be worth less now than it was at the time of sale. Thus selling at an average price of UK£4.35, which is higher than the current price, may have been the best decision.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Tristel

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Executive Director, Paul Swinney, sold UK£311k worth of shares at a price of UK£4.40 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (UK£3.15). So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK£25k for 8.50k shares. But insiders sold 186.85k shares worth UK£812k. All up, insiders sold more shares in Tristel 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!

Check out our latest analysis for Tristel

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Insiders At Tristel Have Bought Stock Recently

There was some insider buying at Tristel over the last quarter. Insiders bought UK£25k worth of shares in that time. It's great to see that insiders are only buying, not selling. However, in this case the amount invested recently is quite small.

Insider Ownership Of Tristel

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. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. From looking at our data, insiders own UK£1.0m worth of Tristel stock, about 0.7% of the company. I generally like to see higher levels of ownership.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Tristel Tell Us?

Insider purchases may have been minimal, in the last three months, but there was no selling at all. The net investment is not enough to encourage us much. The insider transactions at Tristel are not inspiring us to buy. And usually insiders own more stock in the company, according to our data. 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 1 warning sign for Tristel you should be aware of.

But note: Tristel 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.