Should You Review Recent Insider Transactions At Air New Zealand Limited (NZSE:AIR)?

We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So before you buy or sell Air New Zealand Limited (NZSE:AIR), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Buying?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year'.

Check out our latest analysis for Air New Zealand

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Air New Zealand

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by insider John Whittaker for NZ$327k worth of shares, at about NZ$1.51 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, at around the current price, which is NZ$1.72. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for Air New Zealand share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price. We note that John Whittaker was both the biggest buyer and the biggest seller.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid NZ$514k for 350.57k shares. On the other hand they divested 775.48k shares, for NZ$1.1m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Air New Zealand shares, than buying. 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!

If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insiders at Air New Zealand Have Sold Stock Recently

The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Air New Zealand shares. In total, insider Cam Wallace dumped NZ$199k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the insiders think that the shares are a bargain.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It appears that Air New Zealand insiders own 0.7% of the company, worth about NZ$14m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Air New Zealand Insiders?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. Despite some insider buying, the longer term picture doesn't make us feel much more positive. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We'd practice some caution before buying! In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Air New Zealand. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Air New Zealand you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.

But note: Air New Zealand may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE 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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