This Insider Has Just Sold Shares In National Grid

We wouldn't blame National Grid plc (LON:NG.) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that John Pettigrew, the CEO & Executive Director recently netted about UK£2.3m selling shares at an average price of UK£10.39. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 10%, which is notable but not too bad.

View our latest analysis for National Grid

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At National Grid

Notably, that recent sale by John Pettigrew is the biggest insider sale of National Grid shares that we've seen in the last year. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of UK£9.97. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid UK£31k for 3.03k shares. On the other hand they divested 527.87k shares, for UK£5.0m. All up, insiders sold more shares in National Grid 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 want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

I will like National Grid better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company 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. National Grid insiders own about UK£29m worth of shares. That equates to 0.06% of the company. 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 National Grid Tell Us?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. We'd practice some caution before buying! 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. Be aware that National Grid is showing 5 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 2 of those can't be ignored...

But note: National Grid 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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