20% Of This Peabody Energy Insider's Holdings Were Sold

Looking at Peabody Energy Corporation's (NYSE:BTU ) insider transactions over the last year, we can see that insiders were net sellers. That is, there were more number of shares sold by insiders than there were purchased.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

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Peabody Energy Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Executive VP & CFO, Mark Spurbeck, for US$295k worth of shares, at about US$29.52 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. The silver lining is that this sell-down took place above the latest price (US$13.53). So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price. Mark Spurbeck was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

See our latest analysis for Peabody Energy

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Insiders At Peabody Energy Have Bought Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider buying at Peabody Energy. We can see that President James Grech paid US$100k for shares in the company. No-one sold. This could be interpreted as suggesting a positive outlook.

Does Peabody Energy Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Our data indicates that Peabody Energy insiders own about US$6.9m worth of shares (which is 0.4% of the company). Whilst better than nothing, we're not overly impressed by these holdings.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Peabody Energy Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. But we can't say the same for the transactions over the last 12 months. The transactions over the last year don't give us confidence, and nor does the fairly low insider ownership, but at least the recent buying is a positive. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Peabody Energy. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Peabody Energy (of which 1 is concerning!) you should know about.

But note: Peabody 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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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.