Stephan Shakespeare Bought 1.4% More Shares In YouGov

Potential YouGov plc (LON:YOU) shareholders may wish to note that the Co-Founder & Non-Executive Chair, Stephan Shakespeare, recently bought UK£99k worth of stock, paying UK£4.10 for each share. While that's a very decent purchase to our minds, it was proportionally a bit modest, boosting their holding by just 1.4%.

Check out our latest analysis for YouGov

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At YouGov

Notably, that recent purchase by Co-Founder & Non-Executive Chair Stephan Shakespeare was not the only time they traded YouGov shares this year. Earlier in the year, they sold shares at a price ofUK£11.80 per share in a -UK£4.1m transaction. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of UK£4.06. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK£154k for 29.62k shares. But insiders sold 359.95k shares worth UK£4.2m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of YouGov shares, than buying. They sold for an average price of about UK£11.76. We are not joyful about insider selling. But the selling was at much higher prices than the current share price (UK£4.06), so it probably doesn't tell us a lot about the value on offer today. 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!

For those who like to find hidden gems this free list of small cap companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership Of YouGov

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From our data, it seems that YouGov insiders own 1.7% of the company, worth about UK£7.8m. We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

So What Does This Data Suggest About YouGov Insiders?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. But we can't say the same for the transactions over the last 12 months. Neither the level of insider ownership, nor the transactions over the last twelve months inspire us, but we think the recent buying is positive. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for YouGov you should be aware of, and 1 of them is concerning.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com