Sagimet Biosciences Insiders Benefit From Selling Stock At US$3.10

Although Sagimet Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:SGMT) shareholders have enjoyed a great week with the stock up 11%, insiders who sold stock over the past year haven't fared as well. They could have sold their shares at much higher prices and gotten a better return on their investment if they had waited.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares.

View our latest analysis for Sagimet Biosciences

Sagimet Biosciences Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO, President & Director David Happel for US$64k worth of shares, at about US$5.27 per share. Even though the purchase was made at a significantly lower price than the recent price (US$5.94), we still think insider buying is a positive. Because the shares were purchased at a lower price, this particular buy doesn't tell us much about how insiders feel about the current share price.

All up, insiders sold more shares in Sagimet Biosciences than they bought, over 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!

For those who like to find hidden gems this free list of small cap companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership Of Sagimet Biosciences

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. Insiders own 10% of Sagimet Biosciences shares, worth about US$19m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Sagimet Biosciences Tell Us?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Sagimet Biosciences shares in the last quarter. We don't take much encouragement from the transactions by Sagimet Biosciences insiders. But we do like the fact that insiders own a fair chunk of the company. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Sagimet Biosciences. To help with this, we've discovered 5 warning signs (2 are a bit unpleasant!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in Sagimet Biosciences.

But note: Sagimet Biosciences 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.