How Many Beazley plc (LON:BEZ) Shares Have Insiders Sold, In The Last Year?

We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Beazley plc (LON:BEZ).

Do Insider Transactions Matter?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise'.

View our latest analysis for Beazley

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Beazley

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the CEO & Executive Director , David Horton, for UK£477k worth of shares, at about UK£5.99 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 good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of UK£3.70. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK£112k for 35.29k shares. But they sold 137.19k shares for UK£822k. All up, insiders sold more shares in Beazley 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. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Beazley Insiders Bought Stock Recently

There was some insider buying at Beazley over the last quarter. Independent Non-Executive Director Robert Stuchbery bought UK£30k worth of shares in that time. It's great to see that insiders are only buying, not selling. But the amount invested in the last three months isn't enough for us too put much weight on it, as a single factor.

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that Beazley insiders own 0.5% of the company, worth about UK£12m. 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 Beazley Tell Us?

We note a that there has been a bit of insider buying recently (but no selling). That said, the purchases were not large. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by Beazley insiders. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for Beazley and we suggest you have a look.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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, but not derivative transactions.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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