Insider Buyers At Yield10 Bioscience Likely Disappointed With 73% Slide

The recent price decline of 73% in Yield10 Bioscience, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:YTEN) stock may have disappointed insiders who bought US$1.0m worth of shares at an average price of US$2.98 in the past 12 months. Insiders invest with the hopes of seeing their money grow in value over time. However, as a result of recent losses, their initial investment is now only worth US$154k, which is not what they expected.

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.

Check out our latest analysis for Yield10 Bioscience

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Yield10 Bioscience

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when insider Jack Schuler bought US$1m worth of shares at a price of US$2.98 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than US$0.45 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. We note that Jack Schuler was both the biggest buyer and the biggest seller.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 341.57k shares for US$1.0m. But they sold 233.63k shares for US$609k. Overall, Yield10 Bioscience insiders were net buyers during the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

Yield10 Bioscience is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership Of Yield10 Bioscience

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Insiders own 13% of Yield10 Bioscience shares, worth about US$670k, according to our data. Overall, this level of ownership isn't that impressive, but it's certainly better than nothing!

What Might The Insider Transactions At Yield10 Bioscience Tell Us?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. While we have no worries about the insider transactions, we'd be more comfortable if they owned more Yield10 Bioscience stock. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Yield10 Bioscience. Our analysis shows 6 warning signs for Yield10 Bioscience (5 are a bit concerning!) and we strongly recommend you look at them before investing.

Of course Yield10 Bioscience 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, but not derivative transactions.

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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.