Subsea 7 Insiders Sold US$21m Of Shares Suggesting Hesitancy

Many Subsea 7 S.A. (OB:SUBC) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company's shareholders. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

Check out our latest analysis for Subsea 7

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Subsea 7

The Non-Executive Director, Jean Cahuzac, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for kr14m worth of shares at a price of kr184 each. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of kr179. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern.

In the last year Subsea 7 insiders didn't buy any company stock. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

I will like Subsea 7 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.

Insiders At Subsea 7 Have Sold Stock Recently

The last three months saw significant insider selling at Subsea 7. In total, Executive Vice President of Projects & Operations Phillip Simons sold kr1.7m worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.

Does Subsea 7 Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. From our data, it seems that Subsea 7 insiders own 0.1% of the company, worth about kr66m. Overall, this level of ownership isn't that impressive, but it's certainly better than nothing!

So What Do The Subsea 7 Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider hasn't bought Subsea 7 stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. But since Subsea 7 is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insider ownership isn't particularly high, so this analysis makes us cautious about the company. We're in no rush to buy! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Subsea 7. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for Subsea 7 and we suggest you have a look.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity 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 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.