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

Ranger Energy Services, Inc.'s (NYSE:RNGR) value has fallen 11% in the last week, but insiders who sold US$14m worth of stock over the last year have had less success. Given that the average selling price of US$16.49 is still lower than the current share price, insiders would probably have been better off keeping their shares.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Ranger Energy Services

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the insider, Richard Agee, sold US$5.9m worth of shares at a price of US$16.94 per share. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$13.21. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 15.29k shares for US$147k. But they sold 823.90k shares for US$14m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Ranger Energy Services shares, than buying. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

View our latest analysis for Ranger Energy Services

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

Insider Ownership

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. From our data, it seems that Ranger Energy Services insiders own 2.8% of the company, worth about US$8.9m. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. Overall, this level of ownership isn't that impressive, but it's certainly better than nothing!

So What Do The Ranger Energy Services Insider Transactions Indicate?

The fact that there have been no Ranger Energy Services insider transactions recently certainly doesn't bother us. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by Ranger Energy Services insiders. And we're not picking up on high enough insider ownership to give us any comfort. Along with insider transactions, I recommend checking if Ranger Energy Services is growing revenue. This free chart of historic revenue and earnings should make that easy .

Of course Ranger Energy Services may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

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.