Insiders Of Personalis Make A Tidy Sum Selling At US$7.14

Although Personalis, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSNL) shareholders have enjoyed a great week with the stock up 10%, insiders who sold stock over the past year haven't fared as well. Had they waited, they might have been able to sell their stock at much higher prices and thereby received a better value on their investment.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Personalis

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the President, Christopher Hall, sold US$266k worth of shares at a price of US$8.99 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$10.72, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. We note that the biggest single sale was only 17% of Christopher Hall's holding.

Insiders in Personalis didn't buy any shares in the last year. 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!

Check out our latest analysis for Personalis

I will like Personalis better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Personalis Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last three months saw significant insider selling at Personalis. In total, President Christopher Hall dumped US$266k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.

Does Personalis Boast High Insider Ownership?

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company 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. Personalis insiders own about US$13m worth of shares. That equates to 1.4% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Personalis Insiders?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We're in no rush to buy! So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. At Simply Wall St, we found 4 warning signs for Personalis that deserve your attention before buying any shares.

Of course Personalis 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.