Insiders In Spero Therapeutics Left Out From 14% Price Rise After Disposing Stock

While it’s been a great week for Spero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRO) shareholders after stock gained 14%, not so much for insiders who sold stock over the past year. The return on their investment would have been much higher had they held on to their stock.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

Check out our latest analysis for Spero Therapeutics

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Spero Therapeutics

The Chief Medical Officer, Kamal Hamed, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$50k worth of shares at a price of US$1.27 each. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. The good news is that this large sale was at well above current price of US$1.14. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price.

Insiders in Spero Therapeutics didn't buy any shares in the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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Spero Therapeutics Insiders Are Selling The Stock

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Spero Therapeutics. In total, insiders sold US$69k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the insiders think that the shares are a bargain.

Does Spero Therapeutics Boast High Insider Ownership?

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. From looking at our data, insiders own US$1.1m worth of Spero Therapeutics stock, about 1.8% of the company. We consider this fairly low insider ownership.

So What Do The Spero Therapeutics Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. Looking to the last twelve months, our data doesn't show any insider buying. Insiders own relatively few shares in the company, and when you consider the sales, we're not particularly excited about the stock. So we'd only buy after very careful consideration. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. To help with this, we've discovered 3 warning signs (1 can't be ignored!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in Spero Therapeutics.

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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.