Insiders Could Have Profited By Holding onto Bloomsbury Publishing Shares Despite 16% Drop

Despite the fact that Bloomsbury Publishing Plc's (LON:BMY) value has dropped 16% in the last week insiders who sold UK£688k worth of stock in the past 12 months have had less success. Insiders would probably have been better off holding on to their shares given that the average selling price of UK£7.13 is still lower than the current share price.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

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Bloomsbury Publishing Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Founder, John Newton, for UK£416k worth of shares, at about UK£7.13 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (UK£5.24). So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Bloomsbury Publishing shares, than buying. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

View our latest analysis for Bloomsbury Publishing

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: Most of them are flying under the radar).

Insider Ownership Of Bloomsbury Publishing

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 Bloomsbury Publishing insiders own 2.3% of the company, worth about UK£10.0m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Do The Bloomsbury Publishing Insider Transactions Indicate?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. Our analysis of Bloomsbury Publishing insider transactions leaves us unenthusiastic. We also note that, as far as we can see, insider ownership is fairly low, compared to other companies. 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 1 warning sign for Bloomsbury Publishing you should be aware of.

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 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.