Have Sable Offshore Insiders Been Selling Stock?

Some Sable Offshore Corp. (NYSE:SOC) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Executive VP & COO, Doss Bourgeois, recently sold a substantial US$2.7m worth of stock at a price of US$13.49 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 24% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

View our latest analysis for Sable Offshore

Sable Offshore Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Chairman & CEO James Flores made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$32m worth of shares at a price of US$10.00 each. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (US$13.36), we still think insider buying is a positive. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 6.82m shares for US$69m. But insiders sold 200.00k shares worth US$2.7m. Overall, Sable Offshore insiders were net buyers during the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of undervalued small cap companies that insiders are buying.

Does Sable Offshore 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. 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's great to see that Sable Offshore insiders own 29% of the company, worth about US$226m. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Do The Sable Offshore Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insider sales and purchases have netted out over the last three months, so it's hard to draw any conclusion from recent trading. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. With high insider ownership and encouraging transactions, it seems like Sable Offshore insiders think the business has merit. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Our analysis shows 4 warning signs for Sable Offshore (3 are concerning!) and we strongly recommend you look at them before investing.

But note: Sable Offshore 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.