Need To Know: Zall Smart Commerce Group Ltd. (HKG:2098) Insiders Have Been Selling Shares

It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So before you buy or sell Zall Smart Commerce Group Ltd. (HKG:2098), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

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.

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'.

See our latest analysis for Zall Smart Commerce Group

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Zall Smart Commerce Group

The insider, Changqun Ji, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for HK$84m worth of shares at a price of HK$0.78 each. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of HK$0.71. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. 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). Changqun Ji was the only individual insider to sell over the last year.

Changqun Ji sold a total of 307.50m shares over the year at an average price of CN¥0.78. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

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

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Zall Smart Commerce Group insiders own about HK$5.4b worth of shares (which is 63% of the company). This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Do The Zall Smart Commerce Group Insider Transactions Indicate?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. It's great to see high levels of insider ownership, but looking back over the last year, we don't gain confidence from the Zall Smart Commerce Group insiders selling. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. When we did our research, we found 4 warning signs for Zall Smart Commerce Group (1 is a bit concerning!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

Of course Zall Smart Commerce Group may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality 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, 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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