Have Uniphar Insiders Been Selling Stock?

Anyone interested in Uniphar plc (ISE:UPR) should probably be aware that the CEO & Executive Director, Gerard Rabbette, recently divested €380k worth of shares in the company, at an average price of €3.80 each. However, the silver lining is that the sale only reduced their total holding by 1.3%, so we're hesitant to read anything much into it, on its own.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Uniphar

Notably, that recent sale by CEO & Executive Director Gerard Rabbette was not the only time they sold Uniphar shares this year. Earlier in the year, they fetched €3.30 per share in a -€660k sale. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of €3.79. 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. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. It is worth noting that this sale was only 2.6% of Gerard Rabbette's holding.

Gerard Rabbette divested 319.23k shares over the last 12 months at an average price of €3.39. 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!

View our latest analysis for Uniphar

I will like Uniphar 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.

Does Uniphar Boast High Insider Ownership?

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 5.1% of Uniphar shares, worth about €50m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Uniphar Insiders?

An insider hasn't bought Uniphar stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. But since Uniphar is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We'd practice some caution before buying! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Uniphar. While conducting our analysis, we found that Uniphar has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

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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.