Azenta Insiders Sold US$1.7m Of Shares Suggesting Hesitancy

Over the past year, many Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) insiders sold a significant stake in the company which may have piqued investors' interest. When evaluating insider transactions, knowing whether insiders are buying versus if they selling is usually more beneficial, as the latter can be open to many interpretations. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period.

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.

See our latest analysis for Azenta

Azenta Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the insider, David Gray, for US$1.2m worth of shares, at about US$57.24 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$65.39). When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. It is worth noting that this sale was only 23% of David Gray's holding.

Azenta insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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Does Azenta 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. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. It appears that Azenta insiders own 2.2% of the company, worth about US$82m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Azenta Tell Us?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Azenta shares in the last quarter. Still, the insider transactions at Azenta in the last 12 months are not very heartening. The modest level of insider ownership is, at least, some comfort. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Azenta. While conducting our analysis, we found that Azenta has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore it.

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.