Energy Insiders Miss 16% Gain After Offloading Stock

While Energy S.p.A. (BIT:ENY) shareholders have had a good week with the stock up 16%, insiders can't say the same having sold stock over the past year. The return on their investment would have been much higher had they held on to their stock.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

Check out our latest analysis for Energy

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Energy

The GM & Director, Andrea Taffurelli, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for €49k worth of shares at a price of €2.16 each. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of €1.59. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price. Andrea Taffurelli was the only individual insider to sell over the last year. Notably Andrea Taffurelli was also the biggest buyer, having purchased €41k worth of shares.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 34.00k shares for €41k. But insiders sold 23.00k shares worth €49k. 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!

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

Insider Ownership

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Energy insiders own about €49m worth of shares (which is 51% of the company). I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders.

So What Do The Energy Insider Transactions Indicate?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. It's heartening that insiders own plenty of stock, but we'd like to see more insider buying, since the last year of Energy insider transactions don't fill us with confidence. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. To help with this, we've discovered 2 warning signs (1 can't be ignored!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in Energy.

Of course Energy 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 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.