Have Insiders Been Selling poLight ASA (OB:PLT) Shares?

It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. 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 before you buy or sell poLight ASA (OB:PLT), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Selling?

It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. 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'.

Check out our latest analysis for poLight

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At poLight

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Chief Technology Officer, Pierre Craen, sold kr448k worth of shares at a price of kr58.44 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to take some cash off the table, even below the current price of kr79.50. 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 87% of Pierre Craen's stake. Pierre Craen was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

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!

I will like poLight better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership of poLight

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. Our data isn't picking up on much insider ownership at poLight, though insiders do hold about kr2.5m worth of shares. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It's always possible we are missing something but from our data, it looks like insider ownership is minimal.

So What Does This Data Suggest About poLight Insiders?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded poLight shares in the last quarter. The insider transactions at poLight are not inspiring us to buy. And we're not picking up on high enough insider ownership to give us any comfort. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. At Simply Wall St, we've found that poLight has 5 warning signs (2 are significant!) that deserve your attention before going any further with your analysis.

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, 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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