Insider Sellers Might Regret Selling Maha Energy Shares at a Lower Price Than Current Market Value

Despite the fact that Maha Energy AB (publ)'s (STO:MAHA A) value has dropped 25% in the last week insiders who sold US$8.1m worth of stock in the past 12 months have had less success. Insiders might have been better off holding onto their shares, given that the average selling price of US$8.12 is still below the current share price.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Check out our latest analysis for Maha Energy

Maha Energy Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Director, Svein Oygard, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for kr8.1m worth of shares at a price of kr8.12 each. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of kr4.54. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it. Svein Oygard was the only individual insider to sell over the last year. Notably Svein Oygard was also the biggest buyer, having purchased kr4.2m worth of shares.

You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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

Maha Energy Insiders Bought Stock Recently

We saw some Maha Energy insider buying shares in the last three months. Director Svein Oygard purchased kr245k worth of shares in that period. It's good to see the insider buying, as well as the lack of recent sellers. However, in this case the amount invested recently is quite small.

Insider Ownership Of Maha Energy

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Our data indicates that Maha Energy insiders own about kr46m worth of shares (which is 5.8% of the company). However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. Whilst better than nothing, we're not overly impressed by these holdings.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Maha Energy Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. On the other hand the transaction history, over the last year, isn't so positive. The more recent transactions are a positive, but Maha Energy insiders haven't shown the sustained enthusiasm that we look for, although they do own a decent number of shares, overall. So they seem pretty well aligned, overall. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. You'd be interested to know, that we found 3 warning signs for Maha Energy and we suggest you have a look.

But note: Maha Energy 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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