Have Genie Energy Insiders Been Selling Stock?

We'd be surprised if Genie Energy Ltd. (NYSE:GNE) shareholders haven't noticed that the Chief Financial Officer, Avi Goldin, recently sold US$175k worth of stock at US$14.61 per share. That sale was 16% of their holding, so it does make us raise an eyebrow.

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Genie Energy Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Avi Goldin is the biggest insider sale of Genie Energy shares that we've seen in the last year. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$14.34. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take place at a lower price. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

Insiders in Genie Energy 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 Genie Energy

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Insider Ownership

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Genie Energy insiders own about US$83m worth of shares. That equates to 22% of the company. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Genie Energy Tell Us?

An insider hasn't bought Genie Energy stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. But since Genie Energy is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We're in no rush to buy! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. While conducting our analysis, we found that Genie Energy has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore them.

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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.