Insiders At Serko Sold NZ$1.8m In Stock, Alluding To Potential Weakness

Many Serko Limited (NZSE:SKO) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company's shareholders. When analyzing insider transactions, it is usually more valuable to know whether insiders are buying versus knowing if they are selling, as the latter sends an ambiguous message. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

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Serko Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Co-Founder, Darrin Grafton, for NZ$1.7m worth of shares, at about NZ$2.90 per share. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of NZ$2.64. 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.

Serko insiders didn't buy any shares over 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!

See our latest analysis for Serko

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Serko Insiders Are Selling The Stock

We have seen a bit of insider selling at Serko, over the last three months. Insiders sold just NZ$25k worth of shares in that time. It's not great to see insider selling, nor the lack of recent buyers. But the selling simply isn't sufficiently substantial to be of much use as a signal.

Does Serko 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. Serko insiders own about NZ$111m worth of shares. That equates to 35% of the company. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Serko Tell Us?

We did not see any insider buying in the last three months, but we did see selling. But the sales were small, so we're not concerned. While we feel good about high insider ownership of Serko, we can't say the same about the selling of shares. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Serko.

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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.