Matterport's Market Cap Dips US$89m, Insiders Who Sold Offset Some Losses

Over the past year, insiders sold US$7.2m worth of Matterport, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTTR) stock at an average price of US$4.10 per share allowing them to get the most out of their money. After the stock price dropped 11% last week, the company's market value declined by US$89m, but insiders were able to mitigate their losses.

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.

Check out our latest analysis for Matterport

Matterport Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the Chairman & CEO, Raymond Pittman, for US$2.1m worth of shares, at about US$4.30 per share. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is US$2.53. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it. Notably Raymond Pittman was also the biggest buyer, having purchased US$400k worth of shares.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid US$400k for 60.00k shares. On the other hand they divested 1.75m shares, for US$7.2m. Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Matterport shares, than buying. 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!

I will like Matterport better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Matterport Insiders Are Selling The Stock

The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Matterport shares. In total, insiders sold US$1.4m 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.

Insider Ownership Of Matterport

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 6.5% of Matterport shares, worth about US$47m. 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 Matterport Tell Us?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. When we did our research, we found 5 warning signs for Matterport (1 is concerning!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

Of course Matterport 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.