Who Has Been Selling Gr. Sarantis S.A. (ATH:SAR) Shares?

It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. 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 shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Gr. Sarantis S.A. (ATH:SAR).

What Is Insider Selling?

Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock in the company. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year'.

View our latest analysis for Gr. Sarantis

Gr. Sarantis Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent purchase by Vice Chairman & CEO Kyriakos Sarantis was not the only time they bought Gr. Sarantis shares this year. Earlier in the year, they paid €8.15 per share in a €571k purchase. That implies that an insider found the current price of €9.02 per share to be enticing. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. In this case we're pleased to report that the insider purchases were made at close to current prices.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 291.00k shares worth €1.2m. But they sold 181.50k shares for €1.6m. In total, Gr. Sarantis insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. They sold for an average price of about €8.71. It's not too encouraging to see that insiders have sold at below the current price. Since insiders sell for many reasons, we wouldn't put too much weight on it. 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!

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Gr. Sarantis Insiders Bought Stock Recently

At Gr. Sarantis,over the last quarter, we have observed quite a lot more insider buying than insider selling. We can see that Vice Chairman & CEO Kyriakos Sarantis paid €206k for shares in the company. But Vice Chairman & CEO Kyriakos Sarantis sold shares worth €46k. The buying outweighs the selling, which suggests that insiders may believe the company will do well in the future.

Insider Ownership of Gr. Sarantis

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 7.0% of Gr. Sarantis shares, worth about €42m. 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 Gr. Sarantis Insider Transactions Indicate?

The recent insider purchase is heartening. However, the longer term transactions are not so encouraging. We don't take much heart from transactions by Gr. Sarantis insiders over the last year. But they own a reasonable amount of the company, and there was some buying recently. Overall they seem reasonably aligned. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

But note: Gr. Sarantis 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, but not derivative transactions.

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