Insiders At Growthpoint Properties Sold R9.0m In Stock, Alluding To Potential Weakness

Growthpoint Properties Limited (JSE:GRT) shareholders may have reason to be concerned, as several insiders sold their shares over the past year. Knowing whether insiders are buying is usually more helpful when evaluating insider transactions, as insider selling can have various explanations. However, if numerous insiders are selling, shareholders should investigate more.

Although we don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Growthpoint Properties

The Group CEO & Executive Director, Leon Sasse, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for R7.0m worth of shares at a price of R13.32 each. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of R13.78, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. We generally consider it a negative if insiders have been selling, especially if they did so below the current price, because it implies that they considered a lower price to be reasonable. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. This single sale was just 10% of Leon Sasse's stake.

Insiders in Growthpoint Properties didn't buy any shares in the last year. 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!

Check out our latest analysis for Growthpoint Properties

I will like Growthpoint Properties better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insiders At Growthpoint Properties Have Sold Stock Recently

Over the last three months, we've seen significant insider selling at Growthpoint Properties. In total, Group Financial Director & Executive Director Gerald Volkel sold R2.0m worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. This may suggest that some insiders think that the shares are not cheap.

Does Growthpoint Properties Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From our data, it seems that Growthpoint Properties insiders own 0.3% of the company, worth about R151m. Overall, this level of ownership isn't that impressive, but it's certainly better than nothing!

What Might The Insider Transactions At Growthpoint Properties Tell Us?

An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. But since Growthpoint Properties is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. While insiders do own a lot of shares in the company (which is good), our analysis of their transactions doesn't make us feel confident about the company. While it's good to be aware of what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Growthpoint Properties you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.

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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.