Trade Alert: President Of Saab Micael Johansson Has Sold Stock

Some Saab AB (publ) (STO:SAAB B) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the President, Micael Johansson, recently sold a substantial kr27m worth of stock at a price of kr273 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 41% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

Check out our latest analysis for Saab

Saab Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Micael Johansson was the biggest sale of Saab shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of kr294, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. It is worth noting that this sale was only 41% of Micael Johansson's holding.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 10.28k shares for kr2.4m. But they sold 238.44k shares for kr60m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Saab 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!

For those who like to find hidden gems this free list of small cap companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Does Saab Boast High Insider Ownership?

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. Insiders own 0.3% of Saab shares, worth about kr455m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Saab Insiders?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. But since Saab is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. For example - Saab has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

But note: Saab 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 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.