Don't Ignore The Insider Selling In Helios Underwriting

We wouldn't blame Helios Underwriting plc (LON:HUW) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Nigel Hanbury, the Non-Executive Deputy Chairman recently netted about UK£1.8m selling shares at an average price of UK£2.38. However, that sale only accounted for 9.2% of their holding, so arguably it doesn't say much about their conviction.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Helios Underwriting

In fact, the recent sale by Nigel Hanbury was the biggest sale of Helios Underwriting shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (UK£2.10). So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 392.37k shares for UK£836k. But insiders sold 1.58m shares worth UK£3.6m. Nigel Hanbury divested 1.58m shares over the last 12 months at an average price of UK£2.27. 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!

See our latest analysis for Helios Underwriting

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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. It appears that Helios Underwriting insiders own 21% of the company, worth about UK£32m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Helios Underwriting Tell Us?

The stark truth for Helios Underwriting is that there has been more insider selling than insider buying in the last three months. Zooming out, the longer term picture doesn't give us much comfort. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We'd practice some caution before buying! While it's good to be aware of 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. For example, Helios Underwriting has 3 warning signs (and 1 which is potentially serious) we think you should know about.

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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.