Have Insiders Been Selling Sinopharm Group Co., Ltd. (HKG:1099) Shares?

We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. On the other hand, we'd be remiss not to mention that insider sales have been known to precede tough periods for a business. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Sinopharm Group Co., Ltd. (HKG:1099).

What Is Insider Selling?

It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a 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 equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Columbia University study found that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'.

View our latest analysis for Sinopharm Group

Sinopharm Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the insider, Zhiming Li, for HK$1.6m worth of shares, at about HK$17.73 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (HK$18.28). When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. This single sale was 51% of Zhiming Li's stake.

Insiders in Sinopharm Group didn't buy any shares in the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From what we can see in our data, insiders own only about HK$4.7m worth of Sinopharm Group shares. We do note, however, it is possible insiders have an indirect interest through a private company or other corporate structure. We might be missing something but that seems like very low insider ownership.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Sinopharm Group Tell Us?

The fact that there have been no Sinopharm Group insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by Sinopharm Group insiders. 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. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for Sinopharm Group and we suggest you have a look.

But note: Sinopharm Group 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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