Dis-Chem Pharmacies Sees Insider Stock Selling \

Insiders were net sellers of Dis-Chem Pharmacies Limited's (JSE:DCP ) stock during the past year. That is, insiders sold more stock than they bought.

While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Check out our latest analysis for Dis-Chem Pharmacies

Dis-Chem Pharmacies Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the insider, Kevin Sterling, for R25m worth of shares, at about R36.12 per share. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. It's of some comfort that this sale was conducted at a price well above the current share price, which is R23.28. So it is hard to draw any strong conclusion from it. Kevin Sterling was the only individual insider to sell shares in the last twelve months.

Kevin Sterling sold a total of 1.00m shares over the year at an average price of R34.95. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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

Insider Ownership Of Dis-Chem Pharmacies

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Dis-Chem Pharmacies insiders own about R1.8b worth of shares. That equates to 8.8% 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.

So What Do The Dis-Chem Pharmacies Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Dis-Chem Pharmacies shares in the last quarter. It's heartening that insiders own plenty of stock, but we'd like to see more insider buying, since the last year of Dis-Chem Pharmacies insider transactions don't fill us with confidence. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Dis-Chem Pharmacies.

But note: Dis-Chem Pharmacies 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, 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.