Insiders Sold Copper 360 Prematurely At R3.96 With Stock Trading Higher

Copper 360 Limited's (JSE:CPR) stock price has dropped 11% in the previous week, but insiders who sold R2.7m in stock over the past year have had less luck. Insiders might have been better off holding onto their shares, given that the average selling price of R3.96 is still below the current share price.

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.

View our latest analysis for Copper 360

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Copper 360

The CFO & Director, Lourens Andries Du Plessis, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for R2.7m worth of shares at a price of R3.96 each. 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 R3.41. So it may not tell us anything about how insiders feel about the current share price. The only individual insider seller over the last year was Lourens Andries Du Plessis.

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!

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insiders At Copper 360 Have Sold Stock Recently

The last three months saw significant insider selling at Copper 360. Specifically, CFO & Director Lourens Andries Du Plessis ditched R2.7m worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. Overall this makes us a bit cautious, but it's not the be all and end all.

Does Copper 360 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. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Copper 360 insiders own 67% of the company, currently worth about R1.4b based on the recent share price. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Do The Copper 360 Insider Transactions Indicate?

An insider sold Copper 360 shares recently, but they didn't buy any. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. It is good to see high insider ownership, but the insider selling leaves us cautious. So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Copper 360 (including 1 which shouldn't be ignored).

But note: Copper 360 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 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.