Athira Pharma Slides As Insider Purchases Lose Another US$89k

The recent price decline of 15% in Athira Pharma, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ATHA) stock may have disappointed insiders who bought US$100.1k worth of shares at an average price of US$2.36 in the past 12 months. Insiders purchase with the hope of seeing their investments increase in value over time. However, due to recent losses, their initial investment is now only worth US$10.8k, which is not great.

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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Athira Pharma Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Independent Chairwoman of the Board Kelly Romano bought US$100k worth of shares at a price of US$2.42 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than US$0.25 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when an insider has purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Kelly Romano.

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 Athira Pharma

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. If investing in lesser known companies is your style, you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insider Ownership Of Athira Pharma

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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Our data indicates that Athira Pharma insiders own about US$1.5m worth of shares (which is 14% of the company). We do generally prefer see higher levels of insider ownership.

So What Do The Athira Pharma Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Athira Pharma shares in the last quarter. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. We'd like to see bigger individual holdings. However, we don't see anything to make us think Athira Pharma insiders are doubting 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. When we did our research, we found 4 warning signs for Athira Pharma (2 are a bit concerning!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting 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.